


In a World of Madness; It's Just Me & You

by kainess



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Android, Angst, Character Death, Civil War, Dystopia, EXO - Freeform, EXO-K, EXO-M - Freeform, M/M, War, kpop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-05-08 17:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 51,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14698503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kainess/pseuds/kainess
Summary: In which Kim Jongdae, a human living in a war-torn country, meets an android named Kim Minseok who's about to get him into more trouble than he ever bargained for.





	1. The sun will set for you.

_Poster created by[Koviee](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1338083/k-studio-open-graphics-poster-request-postershop-graphicshop-animatedposter-cover-covershop). Please check out her shop~~_

__

 

It all started because Jongdae ran out of cream cheese. Cream cheese, of all things. His eyes are closed as he stands in front of his fridge, taking in a deep breath as his fingers curl around the handle of the refrigerator door. He hated leaving the house. Granted, he hated leaving the house before everyone around him started killing each other, but now he _really_ hated leaving the house. Just a simple trip to the grocery store could end with his death, but Jongdae would be damned if he was going to eat his toasted everything bagel without cream cheese on it. 

After a few silent seconds of debating he closes the door, chewing on his bottom lip as he spins around on the heels of his feet. He grabs his keys from the kitchen counter, the small metal keys feeling heavier in the palm of his hand than they normally did. Thankfully the grocery store was only a block from his house, so as long as Jongdae didn't get distracted by anything he should be fine. 

"Behave while I'm gone, alright Mimi?" He scratches behind the ear of his Persian cat, smiling faintly to himself as she leans into his touch and purrs softly. "Should only be an hour or so. Also, stop getting onto the kitchen counter." He huffs and gently picks her up, placing her back onto the floor. "I'm tired of eating your hair along with my food." She only purrs in protest while Jongdae pulls on his black hoodie, slipping on his white surgical face mask to protect him from the pollution outside afterwards. "Behave." He warns the stubborn cat before unlocking and slipping out the door to his apartment. He hastily makes his way down the stairs of the building until he reaches the parking lot. The sky's dark despite it being only nine in the morning, though it's something he's grown used to in the last two years. No matter what time during the day it is, the sky appears as a dark gray and green due to the amount of pollution in the air. There are no clouds in sight, and if there is then Jongdae would consider it to be a rare day. There's always a gloomy feeling hanging in the air; one of dread and misery. He pulls on the strings of his hoodie, hiding his face the best he can to avoid being seen by strangers.

He hurries down the old and cracked sidewalks, the buildings around him deserted and empty. There's old papers and flyers littering the ground along with other rubbish. Cars are broken down on the sides of roads, Jongdae sometimes forgetting that he's not the only one living in the city. His country fell into a dystopia only two years ago, and yet from the way things looked now he'd have thought it had been well over ten years. There were many contributing factors to why everything was the way it was now, but there was only one thing that stood out in his mind most: androids. Korea got a little too carried away when it came to constructing androids; they were first made to do mundane tasks that no one else wanted to do. Soon after they were everywhere, stealing jobs from humans and living lives like humans. It started an uprise and, the androids tired of being mistreated, fought back. A civil war would be a good term for it, or at least that's what Jongdae thinks. 

It was utter chaos when everything started. Humans weren't meant to fight androids. They were stronger, smarter- better than humans at everything. Politicians took notice of this and tried to use the chaos to their advantage. It's how they ended up in a dystopia. They have a corrupt president and a corrupt government and Jongdae can barely recognize his own country anymore. Definitely an extreme turn of events, but it happened nonetheless. Androids are running rampant and humans aren't too far behind. There's looting, murdering, robbing. Humans gang up on defenseless androids and vice versa. It's no wonder that Jongdae prefers to stay inside when everyone's lost their minds. He didn't like to get involved with the politics of things, and he didn't want to choose a side. Both sides (human and androids) were wrong in his opinion, but he didn't dare say that out loud. In a world that's constantly demanding for you to pick a side, Jongdae would rather just stay out of sight. 

Really, his trip should have been an uneventful one. He was only five minutes from the market when he heard shouting from an alleyway behind him. Everything in him told him to keep going; that this was someone else's problem and that it wasn't his business. He grips onto his grocery list tightly, his heart pounding as he freezes in his spot. Should he help? He didn't have a gun or a knife; he wasn't sure if he even would be much help. Knowing his luck it would be a gang that he'd walk into and he'd get a bullet to the head almost immediately. He swallows a thick lump when hearing a strangled cry for help, Jongdae squeezing his eyes tightly before turning around. He supposed going out a hero would be better than dying alone in his apartment anyway. 

"Hey!" He calls out as he picks up his pace, running in the direction of the yelling. "What's going-" He blinks several times at the scene in front of him. A group of children were attacking a man who seemingly wasn't even defending himself. "What's going on here?" He asks out of breath as he stares at the small children. They looked no older than twelve or thirteen while the man looked to be his age. How was a man getting attacked by children?

"Piss off, old man." One of the shorter boys snap, eyes narrowed as he pulls out a dagger. Jongdae steps back slightly, though a taller kid places his hand on the boy's arm. "Don't." He says sternly before looking at Jongdae. "He's one of _them_." He says, pointing an accusing finger at the defenseless man on the ground. Oh. So they were attacking an android. Odd though, the man didn't look like an android to him. He looked far too human. "You know they're worth money. We were going to tie him up and then bring him to the government."

"Yeah, alive. They're only worth money when they're alive." Jongdae sighs. "Look," he wasn't sure what he was doing considering he didn't want a problem on his hands and what he was about to do was certainly going to give him a problem, "if I give you money will you leave me the android?" 

"How much?" It's a girl this time who speaks up. Jongdae didn't even see her until now. 

"Whatever I have in my wallet I guess." He mumbles and pulls out his wallet. He thumbs through the cash, holding it out in front of him. "One fifty. Is that enough for you?" The children exchange looks with each other before the taller one snatches the money from Jongdae's hand. "Alright guys, let's go." The group of four or five children leave afterwards, the one with the dagger shoving up against him while he passed. _Kids these days._ He stares down at the lifeless man, panic starting to creep in when coming to the idea that he might be dead. He looks around before grabbing a stick off the sidewalk. He shakily reaches over, poking the man's side with the stick. "Are you, uh, are you alright?" He asks and pokes him again. He jumps back when the man slowly sits up, trying to keep himself from freaking out. He's never actually been around an android before, if what those children were saying was even true. 

"I don't appreciate you poking me with a stick." His voice is deep yet soft, and Jongdae has an even harder time believing that this man is an android. He quickly tosses the stick to the side before clearing his throat nervously. "Stick? What stick?" He laughs nervously though the man has a straight face. "Well, uh," Jongdae's not sure he wants to stick around any longer, and he should be heading back home now that he had no grocery money anymore, "it was nice meeting you. I should be going now, but if you feel lightheaded or anything there's a clinic down the road." He quickly points to the left of him before taking a few steps back. "Have a great life." He makes finger guns at the other before quickly turning around, swearing at himself for being so lame. He darts across the street and heads back in the direction of his apartment, trying to keep himself distracted from everything that just happened. Did he do a good thing? Technically he kept the kids from killing the man, but he also left him in the alley. Not exactly heroic.

He mostly stares at his feet for the most part while walking back home. It was wise to avoid looking around should you accidentally see something that wasn't meant for your eyes. He pauses, however, when his foot lands on a crumpled flyer that contains large and bold letters. He bends over to pick it up, uncrumpling the paper in his hands so that he could have a better look.

**WANTED**

**KIM MINSEOK**

**ID: 01568975**

**REWARD: $150,000**

There was no sketch of the android they were after, which Jongdae found odd. Along with that, why was the reward so high? He's never seen a flyer for a criminal (android or human) with such a high pay, and with the way things were now that was a lot of money to be handing out for a basic criminal. He jumps slightly when he hears rustling behind him, crumpling up the paper and tossing it back onto the street before hurrying down the sidewalk. He didn't care about that; he just wanted to go home. Whoever that man was, he could sort that shit out himself. It wasn't Jongdae's business and it wasn't his problem. 

He thinks he's losing his mind when he hears faint footsteps behind him, beads of sweat rolling down the side of his face as he quickens his pace. He glances over his shoulder, unable to see anyone due to the heavy amount of smog hanging in the air. It's only when he hears the footsteps pick up pace to match his that he breaks out into a full sprint. He's running as fast as he can, every cell in his body screaming at him to make it back home and to never step outside again. He darts around a corner, nearly crying out when hearing the footsteps from behind catch up. He's managed to get himself cornered in another alleyway and Jongdae's starting to think that alleyways might just be the death of him. 

"What do you want?" He shouts. He turns around, looking around wildly as he backs into the brick wall behind him. "Who are you? Why are you following me?" The silence is driving him insane and also starting to get on his nerves. "If it's money you want I don't have any! I'm broke just like everyone else in this damned town!" He shouts. Was he hallucinating everything? Maybe his mask wasn't on as tight as he thought it was. "I-"

The man steps out of the smog, Jongdae's heart both sinking and jumping out of his chest. It's the same man from the alleyway. And now they were alone in yet another alleyway. "What do you want? Why did you follow me here?" He's trying not to sound like he's out of breath or that he's freaking the fuck out inside. It's silent and the man's just staring at Jongdae, making him feel uncomfortable as he nervously glances around. He normally didn't mind being alone in the streets, but this was the one time where he wished there was someone else nearby. "I should be returning home now and I think you should be doing the same." He says, cautiously making his way around the strange man. "It's not healthy for us to be staying out in this for too long. It could make us sick." He decides not to let the other know that he's aware he's not human. He might be saving his own life by doing so. He wasn't sure how androids reacted to humans, he's only ever interacted with one and even that was brief. The man grabs onto his wrist as Jongdae makes his way around the other. Jongdae makes eye contact with the android, shivering slightly when seeing the distant and blank look in his eyes. He felt like the other was so detached from reality that it was borderline terrifying. "You need to let me go. If you don't then I'll scream and everyone will know where you are." 

"You wouldn't and you won't." He says flatly, his grip around Jongdae's wrist only tightening. 

"What do you want?" Jongdae asks as he tries to pull his hand away from his grip. "I didn't do anything to you. I helped you and you want to kill me in return?" 

"I'm not- you know what? Forget it." The man scoffs as he lets go of Jongdae's wrist. "All humans are the same, you know that?" 

"Excuse me? You're the one who cornered me in an alley!" He says in disbelief. 

"I didn't corner you. You ran into the alley yourself." The man's tone is monotone and flat the entire time he speaks and it's making Jongdae's skin crawl. "I have more important things to do with my time then terrorize humans. You're too weak to even toy around with." He ignores Jongdae's offended stare, pulling out his bag and unzipping it. "Would you- look," he sighs when seeing Jongdae jump just from the simple action of unzipping his bag, "I don't know who hurt you, but I'm not going to kill you just because I'm an android." He scoffs. "I came to give you _this_." He holds out Jongdae's old leather wallet, tossing it onto the ground in front of his feet. "You dropped it when you ran away from me the first time." He deadpans. Jongdae stares down at the wallet in shock, glancing over at the android before slowly bending over and picking it up. "Thanks." He mumbles, shoving it back into his back pocket. Jongdae awkwardly clears his throat when he only stares at him in return, a sigh leaving his lips as he rubs at his sore wrist. "Well, I'll be seeing you around I guess." He mumbles before darting past the android and hurrying back out onto the main sidewalk. He'd be more than happy with never seeing him again, but he didn't dare say that to his face. 

Thankfully he's not being followed this time and he manages to make it back to his apartment without any issue. He shakily unlocks his front door and immediately pulls of his face mask as soon as he closes the door behind him. He slips out of his hoodie, taking off his shoes shortly after. "Well," he sighs when seeing his cat staring at him from the kitchen counter, "I didn't get my cream cheese." He's too tired to argue with his stubborn pet, opting to just go into his room instead. As soon as he reaches his room he face plants into his bed, burying his face in his pillows. After today he'd be lucky if he were to ever go outside again. Tensions were just too high between humans and androids and it was becoming far more dangerous than he would have liked. His eyes are feeling heavy despite it only being the early afternoon and he hopes that a small nap will help him forget all the stress he went through today.

☽ ☽ ☽

Jongdae wakes up to loud knocks on his front door and his cat sitting on his face. "Can you not, Mimi?" He mumbles before gently pushing the cat off him. He rubs at his eyes sleepily as he slowly sits up in his bed, stretching his limbs out while yawning loudly afterwards. "I'm coming!" He shouts when the knocking doesn't stop. He already knew exactly who it was and he was in no rush to answer. He glances at the clock on his bedside, rolling his eyes when seeing that it was almost eight at night. He didn't mean to sleep that long. He pushes himself out of bed, strolling down the hall and into the living room. 

He puts on his mask that's resting on the coffee table before walking over to the door and opening it. "Hey." He mumbles, smiling at the taller man who's standing in front of him. 

"Hey! I brought food." He says while holding up two bags of Chinese takeout.

"And I see you brought Jongin as well." He points out when seeing the bare-faced man hovering over his neighbor from behind. "And without a mask. You're really making it obvious."

"No we aren't. We live two doors down. No one's going to tell, besides if we actually go out then I make him wear a mask." He says before stepping around Jongdae and walking in, Jongin trailing not far behind. 

"Alright, Sehun." Jongdae sighs, closing the door behind them. Mimi darts into the room as Jongdae and Sehun pull off their masks, Jongin squealing as he leans over to sweep the cat off her feet. "I don't get why she likes you more than she likes me. In fact, she can barely tolerate me." Jongdae grumbles under his breath. 

"Jongin just has that impact on animals." Sehun snorts while setting up the containers on the counter. "Did you do anything today other than sleeping, Dae? You look like we just woke you up from a coma." 

"I went to get groceries." That he never wound up getting. And he also lost all his money. Great day, Jongdae would say. 

"Really? Because your kitchen still looks empty." He laughs. "You should really get me or Jongin to go with you when you run errands. It's too dangerous for you to do it alone." Jongdae half laughs at this. If he ever told Sehun what happened today he would never hear the end of it. Sehun would force Jongin to follow him everywhere, and while he doesn't have anything against androids, he feels like it would be awkward to be left alone with the taller male. "It's too quiet." He mumbles, getting up to grab the television remote from the coffee table. 

"So you put on the television?" Jongdae asks as he sits down at the counter next to Jongin, offering him a small smile. "They only play bullshit now. Everything's about how fucked up androids are or how we're all doomed or whatever." He says while pouring himself some noodles into a bowl. "It's not like tv stations play anything entertaining anymore."

"I know, but sometimes it's good to see what's happening." Jongdae rolls his eyes when Sehun turns the television on anyway. Jongin pokes at the noodles in front of him, not having an appetite. He frowns slightly when he catches Jongdae staring at him. "I can eat them if it will make you more comfortable." He says with a small smile. While more advanced androids might look like humans, they were still far off once you paid enough attention to them. They don't sleep, they don't breathe, they don't eat; all the normal things humans do they don't. Jongdae's not sure how Sehun can share a bed with Jongin at night when he doesn't breathe, but that's not his problem nor is it his business.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jongin." He chuckles quietly. "You don't need to eat." He pats the younger on the back gently. Before they can say anything else, the two men turn their attention to Sehun who's gasping over whatever's playing on the television. "Can you believe this bullshit?" He asks while tossing the remote onto the couch. "They really just say whatever to make androids look like monsters. As if everyone's not on edge enough these days." He snorts while strolling back over to the counter. He climbs onto the stool that's next to Jongin, a long sigh leaving him afterwards. "Things will never get better if they keep pushing shit like this." He gestures back over to the television, Jongdae glancing over, looking at a sketch of a man that looked vaguely familiar to him. 

"They say that he killed an entire family." Sehun mumbles while stuffing his face with a fortune cookie. "Meanwhile, the only evidence the government has is that he's an android. Typical. He probably didn't even do it. Let's just make everyone scared of androids, right?" He rolls his eyes while shoving another fortune cookie in his mouth. "Fucked up." Jongdae glances back at the tv, watching as the news anchor discusses the details of the crime before staring back at his untouched bowl of noodles. "How do you know that he didn't do it though?" He asks while moving the noodles around with his chopsticks. 

"How do I know that he didn't do it?" Sehun asks between chewing. "I don't, but I think it's safe to assume that he didn't. They make androids out to be a lot tougher than they are. You think it'd be that easy for an android to kill a family? Ask Jongin; he'll tell you." Sehun nudges Jongin's side before stealing his fortune cookie as well.

"Hey! I want the fortune." He whines quietly when watching the other eat his cookie. "But he's right. We weren't designed to have superhuman strength. You think humans would create us to be stronger than them? They only designed us to be good at the jobs they wanted us to do. Unless he was constructed for a job that required a decent amount of strength, he shouldn't be too much stronger than the average man." He says while handing his bowl of noodles to Sehun. "A lot of misconceptions about androids, but what would you expect during times like these when the media feeds people all these lies?" He gently starts to hit Sehun on the back when he chokes on a noodle, waving his hand around lazily afterwards. "I'm fine." The younger chokes out. 

"I never thought about it like that." Jongdae says before sliding his bowl over to Sehun as well. "But if they're so sure it was this one specific android, I wonder why they wouldn't already have him in custody. They don't even have a picture of him." 

"Who knows. You can never tell what the government is up to." Sehun says before hopping off his stool. "Thanks for the food." He says while grabbing the remaining leftovers including Jongdae's bowl.

"You brought the food so..." Jongdae mumbles while watching Jongin get up to follow after the blonde. "We'll come back over tomorrow afternoon or something. Jongin's getting bored of being inside all day while I'm at work; do you think it would be possible if you, uh..." Sehun didn't necessarily want to ask Jongdae if he could watch Jongin as he wasn't a child, but at the same time... "Hang out with him maybe? I think it could do you some good." He quickly adds before Jongdae can protest against him. "I know that your only other friend is Mimi, which is depressing in itself."

"She's not my only friend!" He defends himself with wide eyes. "I have plenty of other friends. Like uh, you...Jongin...Mimi." His face is growing redder and redder with each second as he tries to think of a list of people. He wasn't even sure if Jongin counted as a friend, but if he was going to babysit him when Sehun was at work he thought that they were on the right path for that. "I know people!" 

"Sure you do." Sehun laughs while slipping his mask back on. "Listen, only for a few hours each day. It's the only way I can keep him from running off when I'm away. You guys can play games or watch movies; I don't know. Whatever two bros do." Jongdae watches Sehun with a bewildered face. What was this kid even going on about?

"Alright, fine. I'll hang out with him when you go to work." He says when realizing that Sehun wasn't going to give up on pestering him about it. "Only because I'm a good friend."

"And also because you don't have a job." Sehun snorts, scurrying out the door with Jongin before Jongdae had the chance to hit him. "Asshole." Jongdae groans to himself before locking the door. He sighs softly when he turns around to see the dirty dishes on the counter. "He could have at least helped me clean up." He sighs, grabbing the remote from the couch and switching the tv off before going into the kitchen. "He's lucky he's my neighbor or I'd probably have never talked to him." He huffs, stacking the bowls and dishes inside of each other and placing them into one side of the sink. "I swear, that kid is always taking advantage of my hospitality." He grumbles to himself while running the sink water on the other side of the sink. He grabs the soap bottle on the side of the sink, groaning to himself when realizing that the bottle was empty. "Fuck me." He sighs and puts it back down before strolling over to the grocery list hanging on the fridge door. "Next time I'm willing to risk my death I'll makes sure to grab cream cheese _and_ dish washing soap." He hums to himself while jotting down the item on the list. 

He laughs quietly when hearing a knock on the door. "Bet he won't be as much as an asshole when realizing he forgot something here." He snorts while walking over to the front door. "I'll only watch Jongin for you if you buy me dish soap and cream cheese!" He calls out while putting on his mask. He rolls his eyes when hearing a second knock. "He can be so impatient sometimes I swear." He mumbles before swinging the door open. "What do you-" He completely freezes when seeing the android from the alleyway standing in front of his door. "-want?" He finishes after a moment of stunned silence.

"I need you to let me in." He says in a soft voice, his hoodie and jeans drenched from the rain. "Please." He begs when police sirens go off in the distance. Jongdae's not sure why, but for whatever reason he steps to the side and allows him in, closing and locking the door behind him. He keeps his mask on however, eyeing the man carefully. 

"Why are you here?" Jongdae asks slowly, Mimi hissing from her spot on the couch. "How did you find out where I live?" 

"I followed you home." He states in a matter-of-fact tone. "I don't- what are you doing?" He asks when Jongdae picks up a spoon, pointing it at him. 

"I'm not afraid to use it." He warns, eyes narrowing as he waves the spoon in front of him. "Make one false move and I swear I'll use it! I'm not scared!"

The android only scoffs in response. "You're joking, right? You plan to kill an android with that, human?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "Whatever, that's not what I'm here for." He states as he takes a step forward. "Stop!" Jongdae shrieks, poking him in the arm with the spoon. 

"Ow." He says flatly before grabbing the spoon from his hand and tossing it across the room. "Would you quit with the spoon? It's distracting. Look, I didn't know anyone else in the area-"

"You don't know me." Jongdae states flatly. 

"-and I know you're at least somewhat kind since you came to my aid this morning," he continues, "and I'm sure you've seen me on the news by now. Maybe you've even seen my name plastered all over the city on flyers." 

Jongdae only stares at the man with wide eyes, blinking several times before shaking his head. "Pardon? Why- are you saying- _what?_ " He only blinks more before pinching the bridge of his nose. "I swear to god, if you're about to tell me that I just let in the android that was on the news for killing a family, I'm going to throw myself out the kitchen window. So help me god." Jongdae stares at him, silently urging him to confirm his thoughts.

"I need to stay here for a bit." He says instead.

"Are you insane?" Jongdae shrieks. "I don't even know you! You could kill me in my sleep for all I know and then harvest my organs or something."

"I'm sorry; harvest your organs? Do you know _anything_ about androids?" He asks with a baffled expression. "Nevermind that; my name is Kim Minseok. Now you know me and you can let me stay, human." 

"Oh my god. You _are_ that insane guy they've plastered all over the city! This is just my luck. Of course I would be the one of all people for you to follow home. You're lucky my cat is a bitch and wants me dead or you would have been attacked by now." He says as he points a finger at him. "I need to invest in a guard dog. Why did I think getting a cat was a good idea? I should have listened to my mother." He mutters to himself while running a hand through his hair. 

"I'm not going to hurt you. Look, I just need to stay here until the police and the government get off my tail." Jongdae nearly laughs at this, wanting to pull the hairs out of his head. "And what makes you think they wouldn't find you here? And do you know what they would do to me if they thought I was helping you? A human. Helping an android. Let that sink in for a moment. An android that has a $150,000 bounty hanging over his head, mind you." He gently dabs at his forehead, feeling a lot hotter than he was earlier. "Minseok, why did you have to drag me into this?" He's been trying so hard to stay out of this whole mess; he never wanted to pick between humans or androids. Both sides were so incredibly flawed and if he let Minseok stay with him, he'd definitely be picking a side, right?

"I didn't know where else to go. I didn't kill that family; I swear. Do you have any idea what it's like to be an android in today's society? Look, just let me stay here for a week and then I'm gone. Long enough for the police to give me some breathing space. If, look-" The android, Minseok, is growing frazzled as he runs a hand through his hair, "if they find me here, I will tell them that I forced you to. That I held you hostage and made you keep me here, alright?"

Jongdae's chewing on his bottom lip nervously as he stares at Minseok. He had no reason to believe him. Minseok had no merit to convince him that he didn't kill the family featured on the news, but he also didn't have anything that linked him to the crime. Jongdae had a good heart; it's the thing that kept him from walking past Minseok earlier that day when the kids were beating him. "Fine. You start causing any problems- _any_ , and you're out. Understand?" Minseok quickly nods his head to Jongdae's words. Jongdae only shakes his head in disbelief as he runs another hand through his hair. "You'll be sleeping on the couch. I'll get you blankets and pillows and-" He pauses when remembering that androids don't sleep. "I know your kind don't sleep, but you're going to have to try. I will not sleep under the same roof as you knowing that you're awake." Minseok once again nods his head at this. "Alright. I'll be back in a few minutes with everything. My name is Kim Jongdae, by the way. Call me human one more time and I'm going to stab you in your stupid android head with my spoon." He warns before disappearing down the hall.

"Well that went well." Minseok mumbles to himself before letting out a long sigh.

☽ ☽ ☽

"Alright." Jongdae sighs as he stares at Minseok who's sitting on the couch, wearing Jongdae's spare clothes with blankets piled up in his lap. Minseok was lucky that they were nearly the same size, or else Jongdae would have just forced him to sit in his wet clothes. "How am I going to explain this to Jongin or Sehun?" He could possibly get by Sehun with a lie, but Jongin would catch on. Surely he'd be able to recognize another android. What would even happen if Jongin found out about him? Would he attack Minseok? Do androids attack each other on-site or do they form some kind of alliance? Jesus, he really does know nothing about androids. And what if Sehun recognized Minseok from the sketch on the news? Sure, the sketch vaguely looked like Minseok, but Sehun's only quality skill was his observations. That boy was too keen for his own good sometimes. 

"Who are they?" Minseok asks as he fiddles with the soft fabric on his lap.

"My friends. I told Sehun I'd hang out with Jongin while he's at work and-"

"They can't come over." Jongdae raises his eyebrows from the quick response. "What if they recognize me?"

"Okay, you should have considered that maybe I have a social life and prior agreements before you barged into my home." Jongdae says as he stares down at the android. "I'll say your my cousin or something who's staying with me. The whole country has gone to shit so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that someone would feel more comfortable living with their relative. But if you're really going to stay here," he trails off as he looks around the room, holding up a finger as an idea comes to him, "stay right here." He instructs before darting down the hall and into his room. After a few minutes of fishing around in his nightstand he manages to pull out an extra black face mask.

"This," he announces as he walks back into the living room, "is going to be your new best friend. Any time you go outside you need to wear this. I know androids don't get sick from the pollution, but if you don't wear it it will only make your identity more obvious." He tosses the mask into his lap, watching as Minseok stares at it closely. Jongdae's tapping his foot anxiously as he continues to think of what he should do. Why on earth did Jongdae let him in? Why on earth did Jongdae decide to play hero today of all days? He clears his throat awkwardly before gesturing to the remote on the couch. "You can watch the tv whenever you want. Nothing good really plays anymore, but I'm sure it will keep your mind off things." Jongdae blushes slightly when Minseok shoots him a look in return. "Or maybe it won't." He laughs nervously when remembering that Minseok's crime was plastered all over the news. "Uh," he points to the hallway, "I'm going to go to bed now. It's pretty late and you should sleep too." He puts emphasis on the last part before shaking his head. "I'll see you in the morning and we'll figure more of this out. Don't take anything." He warns before disappearing into the hall.

"Just because I'm an android doesn't mean I'm going to steal your things!" Minseok calls out after him, though Jongdae only responds with a grunt and a slam of his door. Minseok huffs under his breath, settling in with the soft blanket that Jongdae provided him with and leaning his head back against the more than comfortable pillow. He's about to close his eyes when he hears the padding of feet from down the hall, watching with an amused expression as Jongdae stomps back out and scoops up Mimi in his arms. 

"I'm not leaving my cat out here alone with you. How do I know you won't harvest her organs or eat her?" He grumbles under his breath before stomping back down the hall, Minseok rolling his eyes in result.

"Androids also don't eat cats!" He yells out before pulling a face. "And we don't harvest organs either! Stop saying that." He rolls his eyes and scoffs under his breath. "Keep it up and I might actually harvest your organs."

☽ ☽ ☽

_A/N: this was inspired from a web comic on tumblr I read years ago and i'd link it but i can't find it anywhere so riP anyway this is going to be a 3-shot instead of a one-shot because it would end up too long for one chapter._

_while you're here, please check out my other one-shots as well :D_

[He's Got to be Crazy (John Wayne)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13443381) (Jongdae x Kyungsoo)

[Deserve](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12338355) (Jongdae x Jongin)

_anyway hope you enjoyed the first chapter_

_-byun_


	2. In this world of madness.

Jongdae stares at his ceiling the next morning, the reality of last night finally settling in his mind. Jongdae has gotten himself a major problem and it didn't look like it was one that would be an easy fix. Sehun works later in the day which would give him a few hours to figure out what to do about Jongin coming over and seeing Minseok and vice versa. Things were already intense enough as it was, especially when it came to humans trying to live with androids. Living with an android was already illegal, something that Sehun would roll his eyes at whenever Jongdae would lecture him about it. Because androids are seen as these villains, the government declared that it would be unlawful for any human to peacefully coexist with one. It makes sense; how else would they keep up the war between humans and androids?

Jongdae knew how much trouble Sehun could get in for living with Jongin; let alone being more than friendly with the boy. While they never said to Jongdae they were in a relationship, it was more than implied through body language. Androids and humans alike could be killed if discovered to be in a relationship, and that was the nicest punishment. Often times the android would be slaughtered in front of the human, or the android would be forced to slaughter the human. It was a fucked up world they were living in. Sehun's more than aware of his reality though and while he doesn't let on that it bothers him, he's certainly seen the other in a nervous wreck because of it before. Hell, even Jongdae could get in trouble simply just for knowing about Sehun and Jongin and not reporting them to authorities. 

Now that Jongdae's willingly (if one could say that) living with an android, he too could get into the same kind of trouble that Sehun could for living with Jongin. While Jongdae isn't romantically involved with Minseok, he figured that hardly mattered. Minseok already being a nation-wide wanted criminal would surely make up for that fact. Minseok did say that he'd only stay for a week so that things could have time to calm down, but he hardly knew how only a week would help him much. He lazily turns on his side to look at Mimi who's sleeping soundly on his spare pillow. "Mimi, how will I get myself out of this situation?" He asks softly, running a hand through the cat's soft fur. 

Jongin is the only android he's ever met. He knows nothing about them and he's never really bothered to go out of his way to learn more about them. He has no idea what their temperaments are like. Does Minseok need food? Sleep? Does he take showers? Does he feel love and does he know how to give it?  _Does he need a charger?_  Jongdae scrunches his nose as he stares up at the ceiling. Androids were complicated and the more he thought about them the more confused he became. He's pretty sure he doesn't need food or sleep, but that's about all he knows. He wonders if Minseok actually went to sleep last night or if he just laid on the couch all night with his eyes closed. That would be a little weird, but then again he kind of threaten him to. Jongdae slowly pushes himself to sit up, glancing over at the clock on his nightstand. It was only eight in the morning, not that anyone could tell of course. He couldn't avoid Minseok forever so he decided that now would be a good time to get up and face the rest of his day head on.

He groans quietly as he opens the bedroom door, stumbling down the hall and into the living room. "You're awake." He deadpans when seeing Minseok sitting up on the couch, blankly staring at the turned off tv across from him. "And staring at nothing like a complete and utter weirdo. Great." He says as Minseok rolls his eyes and turns to look at the man. "Do you, uh, eat?" Jongdae asks as he walks into the kitchen. "I'd feel a little rude if I made myself something to eat and didn't make you anything. Which brings me to my next question; do you drink oil and eat nuts?" 

"Pardon?" Minseok's staring at Jongdae as if he's lost his damn mind. Jongdae's starting to think that he lost it long ago.

"You know- metal nuts. Like screws and shit." He replies lazily as he pulls a bowl out of the sink. "And oil. Do you drink it? I always thought robots drank oil." He opens his fridge to pull out a carton of eggs while Minseok continues to stare at the other in complete disbelief. "What?" He asks when noticing the stare from the other. "Did you freeze? Can you even freeze?"

"Are you serious right now?" He laughs out of disbelief when Jongdae nods his head. "Firstly, I'm not a robot. That's just offensive, _human_. Secondly, no; I don't eat. I don't need to eat anything as I don't feel hunger nor can I taste food. Have you even met an android before? Why on earth do you think we'd eat screws and drink oil? This isn't a cartoon." Jongdae pulls a face from Minseok's rude response. "Was just a question. Anyway, that works out for me since I'd look suspicious buying oil and screws at the market. No one ever has those things just lying around." He mutters under his breath. "Look," he suddenly starts and turns around to face the android, "we need to figure out what we're going to do when Sehun and Jongin come over. I promised Sehun that I would hang out with Jongin while he's at work and I can't just back out of a promise. You don't know Sehun." He quickly adds with a spatula pointing at Minseok. "I guess I could just say you're my cousin, but I'm afraid that's a little too random and Sehun's always said that I'm a shit liar." He ponders silently. "Do you have any ideas? If you want to stay here for the week it's got to work with you and Jongin." 

"I already told you the night before of my stance on others staying here. It's dangerous and I could get caught. I don't feel like being killed over something I never did. I'm just the unlucky android the government picked to push their agenda further." Jongdae rubs his forehead as he sighs heavily. Great. Just great. He didn't want to get involved in something so political and this was something that was definitely political. Even if what Minseok was saying was true, he'd then have the government of Seoul after him because they picked Minseok as the thing that would further their own propaganda. He kinda wished that Minseok was lying and that he was indeed sleeping under the same roof as a lunatic killer. At least then he wouldn't have this huge political drive behind him. And if Minseok was just being used the government would be looking for him with more effort involved than they would for a killer. 

"The government is using you to further their agenda?" It seemed farfetched, but at the same time it seemed possible. It also sounded like a conspiracy that Sehun would rant about during their many late night dinners together. "Why would they pick you then, huh?"

"I'm just unlucky. Your average-every-day-android would be the perfect example to make any human more scared of us. If a normal android could kill an entire family, then what about the more advanced models? It's to make humans fear us more and to drive us out. I wouldn't kill a family, but why would anyone care to listen? They already have a preexisting misconception about me in their heads. Everything they need to know or care to know has been said through the media. Why listen to the truth when the lie is more beneficial to them?" 

"I don't think people want to fear androids. I don't see why it would be beneficial to anyone except the government." Jongdae counters while searching the fridge for something to cook or eat. 

"You're very naive." Is Minseok's response. "If people want to fear something then they'll look for reasons to fear it. The hate bandwagon is something that's very real and prominent in today's society. Open your eyes and look around and you'll see what I mean." Jongdae's not sure why that annoyed him or got under his skin, but it did. "I can't trust your friend not to turn me in. If they're like the average person living in Seoul then he'll probably fear me too."

"What if I told you my friend was an android?" Jongdae was hesitant to say it, not sure how Minseok would react. However, he could see an advantage to Minseok knowing that Jongin was an android as he might feel more comfortable that he wouldn't be turned in. 

"I'd think you're lying since you act like you've never met one before." Jongdae narrows his eyes at this. "Also, how would an android be able to tolerate your ignorant questions? I'm surprised they haven't ditched you."

"Okay, I take complete offense to that." He throws a hand onto his chest while glaring at the other. "Sehun is human and my best friend," and only friend, but Minseok doesn't need to know that, "and Jongin is his roommate who is an android. Jongin is the one that will be staying over while Sehun goes to work."

"That makes more sense. Only a human could fully tolerate you." Jongdae blinks several times before scoffing. "How do I know Jongin or Sehun won't turn me in though?"

"Are you seriously asking me if another android will turn you in?" 

"You really are naive." He sighs while leaning back into the couch. "If an android feels threatened and wants others to believe they're human, they will report other androids. Especially if they've been conditioned into hating androids."

"How can an android hate an android?"

"How can someone be racist towards their own race?" Minseok fires back. "Yet it still happens; you still see it around you in the world." Jongdae isn't really sure what to say and he can tell when he's on the side of a losing argument, so he decides to stay silent. "If an android can see that humans are targeting androids, some might turn on them just so they can stay safe or to please humans as they make up the mass majority. Androids are dying by the dozen because humans view us as inconvenient. We aren't stupid; we can tell what's happening and some of us would rather become friendlier with humans if it increases our chances of living. Every android for themselves." 

"Sehun likes androids." Jongdae adds quickly. "Sehun is also on the side of androids. He does everything he can to make sure that Jongin stays under the radar so no one suspects him of being an android. If anything, Sehun would like you more than me." He scrunches his nose at the thought of that. "Jongin might like you too. He's one of the more advanced androids." Minseok seems to be pondering over this information, his eyebrows creased slightly. 

"You're sure Jongin won't report me?"

"Jongin doesn't really like humans either. I think out of the three of us I'm the only one who's neutral. Hell, they'd both like you more than they like me." Minseok seems to perk up slightly from this and Jongdae can't help but smirk out of victory. "Look, it doesn't matter what you think. If Sehun wants something he gets it. You haven't met him yet. He'll throw Jongin in through my window if I don't open the door for them." He snorts quietly from this and shakes his head. The boy was insane. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if Sehun did throw someone through his window just in spite of him, though he knew he wouldn't do that to Jongin as he'd never hurt him intentionally. 

Hesitation is written all over Minseok's face, though he seems to realize that he's forced into a corner with this. That is until a light bulb seems to flash over his head. "What if I just lie and say I'm a human?"

"You seem to be forgetting that Jongin's an advanced model and could point out to Sehun that you're an android. Sehun then might think that some android is living in my apartment and lying to me about his identity. That might actually get you reported."

"Shit." Minseok huffs under his breath. "Fine, okay. It doesn't seem like I have much of a choice." He's chewing at the inside of his cheek while glancing back at Jongdae. "What time do they arrive?"

"Sehun goes to work in the afternoon. We have three hours or so." He slams the fridge shut when not finding any food. "I was supposed to go grocery shopping yesterday. Instead I came back without money, no groceries, and with an android who's wanted by the government. What kind of deal is this?" He huffs while walking back over to Minseok. "You really don't eat?"

"I don't. I can eat if it makes you comfortable though." Jongdae sighs at this. He really sounds like Jongin now. "I can taste food, but I don't have an appetite. Sometimes I eat just because I like the taste of it." That was interesting. Jongin said he couldn't taste food, but Minseok could? Maybe androids of Minseok's model could taste food. He wonders why the newer models don't have that function. 

"I didn't know that androids could taste foods while other models couldn't. That's strange; you'd think the newer models would have that function." He says while flopping down onto the couch beside Minseok. 

"It makes androids look more human if they can enjoy the same things that humans can. Eating, sleeping, breathing, things like that. If the government wants humans to fear us they don't want us to appear human. We need to look and act like monsters." He snorts under his breath. "Why else would the most advanced models act like perfectionistic robots?" 

"Ah." Jongdae nods his head while watching Mimi run into the room, jumping onto a stool and then the kitchen counter. "What do you normally do during the day? I need to figure out what you like to do so you won't drive me insane throughout the week from how bored you are." Minseok narrows his eyes slightly. He just couldn't say something nice without following it up with some kind of insult. 

"That doesn't matter. What matters is me figuring out how the hell I'm going to get out of this mess."

"Maybe Sehun could help you out with that." Minseok shoots him a skeptical look though Jongdae ignores it. "Sehun hates the government, right? He's always plotting something; whether it's ditching town or planning a resistance, he's plotting something. That quality about him sometimes makes me worry, but that's not the point right now. Maybe if we fill him in about your problem-"

"Absolutely not."

"-then he could help us think of something. Minseok, if you want people to see that you aren't a killer like the media and government are framing you as, then you need to let someone help you. You know," Jongdae chews at the inside of his cheek anxiously at where he was about the steer the conversation, "you could go to Busan. They're a rebel state now and I heard that they're taking in androids. Once you're there Seoul's government can't touch you because Busan's government will protect you." 

"I've considered that." Minseok says while picking at the loose threads on the blanket that sits on his lap. "But it's too dangerous for me to do. Androids only head to Busan in groups for a reason, same with humans. There's too many officials along the way that are just waiting to capture you in the middle of an escape. And if you go at night you risk running into gangs of androids or wild animals who have been mutated from the chemicals in the air and water. I can't do it alone and since my name and ID number is plastered all over the city, I don't think I'll be able to meet too many androids or humans willing to leave with me. Even if they're on my side, if we get caught by security and they find out who I am, everyone I'm traveling with will be trialed and executed as an accessory."

Minseok held several good points. He certainly couldn't see it going over well if Minseok were caught with a group of people or androids. The security would execute the androids anyway, but the humans might have gotten off easier if they weren't found with Minseok. Minseok would definitely be the last nail in their coffin. His fate seemed pretty grim, but he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was just because he was sharing the same living space as him now and that made him feel more involved. Minseok sighs heavily as he just lowers his head, his hands hiding his face as he thinks about how to get out of this mess. "I feel like I'm dead no matter what I do. I was already screwed when this war with humans and androids started, but I could have squeezed through the cracks. I could have tricked people into thinking I'm human. My only fault is that I can't sleep, but I can do everything else a human can. But then I had to get into this mess- accused for killing people I've never even heard of before."

Jongdae listens silently as Minseok rants. He sounds exhausted, something that he didn't know was possible for an android. "If I get caught by the government- I don't even know what they'll do with me. They might kill me, they could torture me and make sure I feel it, they might keep me alive. I don't know if they even want me. There's nothing that I have to offer them. Then you have the Loyalists who are already hunting for me. If they find me they'll either throw me to the government or they'll torture me or do god knows what." He rubs at the skin on his forehead, his eyebrows drawn into a deep furrow. "The shit Loyalists do to androids is unspeakable. I think I'd rather the government get to me first than them." 

Jongdae cringes at the mental images in his mind. He's heard of the Loyalists due to the news and through Sehun and Jongin. They're groups of people who defend the government, though by all means could be considered extremists. They kill anyone who's suspected of being an android, even if they end up being human, as well as any human who's suspected of being associated with an android. They raid homes in the middle of nights and drag androids from homes, and of course the government hasn't put a stop to this. They're violent too; they've made the news several times for the ways they torture androids. Jongdae's heard Jongin talk about them once and how he's lost a few of his friends to Loyalists, though that's about it. Sehun makes it a point not to talk about them around Jongin. He didn't blame them, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a group formed just to kill off his kind. If he were Minseok he'd rather be caught by the government too. If Minseok fell into the hands of a Loyalist...they might broadcast his torturing and murder. That wasn't uncommon either. 

"We don't only have Loyalists here though. We have Red Shirts here too." Jongdae tries to be optimistic for Minseok. "That could help; I'm sure people who are with Red Shirts would be dying to help you." The Red Shirts were a rebel resistance who fought against the government and the Loyalists. They fought for the freedom of androids and spoke up about the injustice that they faced, especially how they were murdered at twice the rate of normal civilians and how the government didn't do anything to stop it. A group like that would surely be all over Minseok's case and if Minseok was in fact being framed, he's sure that the Red Shirts would already know that and have piles of evidence stacked. "Sehun has a friend who's a Red Shirt. If you want I could get his information for you. I think his name is Lay or something weird like that." He wasn't sure why they were called Red Shirts, at least for the Loyalists he knew why they picked their name; because they were loyal to the government. Original, huh? But the Red Shirts- they never wore red shirts. He'd have to ask Sehun later as to how they got their name. 

"Loyalists outnumber Red Shirts here. Seoul is a Loyalist state, not a Red Shirt state. I don't see how they would help me at all." 

"I don't understand how you're more comfortable asking me, a complete stranger, for help but not a group who actually specializes in helping androids." Jongdae deadpans. "A group is still a group, no matter how big or small. They would run to Busan with you and that would immediately increase your chances of survival. And if they're Red Shirts they'll already know about the risks of traveling with you. Who knows, maybe they'll have other androids in the group that you can travel with." Minseok shakes his head, however, clearly not interested in the scenario that Jongdae was coming up with. "But they know how to fight the Loyalists!" He whines loudly. 

"It's not worth the risk, Jongdae. I still can't trust them at the end of the day. Why would I put so much trust in a group of people that I don't know? If we get caught, who's to stay that they won't throw me under the bus so that they can live? Jongdae, I might seem like I'm just being prideful or stubborn, but in this world you can't give your trust out for free. It doesn't hurt to be this cautious." Jongdae only nods his head in response. He didn't feel like arguing with Minseok right now and he knew the other had his reasons for trusting him; if that's what he could even call it. "I'm going to wash up before Sehun and Jongin drop by. Are you sure you don't need anything at all? I know you don't have an appetite, but if there's any food in the fridge that you see that you like the taste of, help yourself." He smiles awkwardly for a moment before getting off the couch and heading down the hall and into the bathroom. Jongdae was already warming up to Minseok and he didn't like the thought of that.

☽ ☽ ☽

"They'll be here literally any second so act normal." Jongdae says while pacing around the room. 

"You're the one who isn't acting normal. I think I'm acting fine." Minseok mutters while watching Jongdae pace around. He's in the kitchen, having snacked on a bag of chips for the last fifteen minutes. Mimi's perched on the kitchen counter as well, rubbing up against Minseok's arm whenever she has the chance so she can grab his attention. He scratches behind her ear every now and then, though barely pays her any actual attention as he's too busy watching Jongdae run around like a lunatic. "Don't pick any fights with Jongin or Sehun, please."

"Why would I pick fights with them?" He asks in a tone that was laced thick with annoyance. "Do you think that just because I'm an android that I'll fight every person I see?" Before Jongdae can answer there's a knock at the door, or more so Sehun banging on it loudly before forcing himself inside. Minseok watches appalled from the kitchen, Sehun shoving past Jongdae while Jongin trails after him. "Lovely." He mutters under his breath. 

"Thanks so much for watching Jongin for me, Dae. Before you know it you'll have a total of two whole friends." Sehun says with the flash of a thumbs up. Jongdae's cheeks redden in embarrassment. So much for not letting Minseok know about his lack of a social life. "And- why do you look so embarrassed?" He asks before Jongin tugs harshly at Sehun's hand. "Jesus, Jongin, what was that for?" He asks before whirling around to see what Jongin was trying to show him. "You already have a second friend?" 

"Why are you stashing Kim Minseok in your house?" Jongin asks as he turns around to face the other. "I'm sorry- _what?_ " Sehun asks cluelessly as Jongin stares Jongdae down. 

"How did you know that was Minseok?" Jongdae asks as he nervously shifts under their glares. 

"When I see an android I can scan them." Jongin offers flatly. "I can read everything about them; their names, ID numbers, model number, where they were made, etc. How did this happen? Is he forcing you to hide him here?" He protectively stands in front of Jongdae and Sehun, glaring down Minseok who looks completely unbothered. He actually looked bored. "You could get Jongdae killed for this. What are you doing here?"

"Jongin, I let him stay here." Jongdae says as he awkwardly shimmies around the other, hurrying over into the kitchen. "He's nice." He says while standing by Minseok's side. "I ran into him the other day and some kids were harassing him."

"So you brought him home with you?" Jongin asks incredulously. 

"But he wasn't here when we came over for dinner." Sehun comments from behind Jongin. 

"Uh, well, he-"

"I showed up later in the night. I asked him if he would let me stay." Minseok says when Jongdae gets flustered and tongue-tied. "I only asked for a week and then I'll be out of his hair. I just need a place to figure out what I'm going to do." 

"For killing a family?" Jongin asks with a raised eyebrow. Minseok sends Jongdae a look who looks dumbfounded in response. 

"I didn't kill anyone." It comes out as a growl and Jongdae's mentally swearing at how quickly this has gone sour. 

"Jongin, relax." Sehun says as he places a hand on his shoulder, Jongin immediately lowering his guard and leaning into the other's touch. Minseok raises an eyebrow at this, though decides not to say anything. Androids didn't normally react to humans like that unless there was a deeper bond in place. Either way, it couldn't bring the two any good news in the future. "Jongdae, he didn't force you to keep him here?" Jongdae quickly shakes his head. "Has he threatened you in any sort of way?" Once again Jongdae shakes his head. "You don't feel threatened with him staying with you for the week? This is one hundred percent consensual?" 

"Of course, Sehun. Minseok never threatened me." Tension seems to leave Jongin when Sehun tells him it's okay. He still has his guard up, though he seems more comfortable than he initially did when he first walked in. 

 

"So you didn't kill the family?" Jongin asks for what seems like the fiftieth time that evening. 

"No, I did not." Minseok was growing agitated and Jongdae was sure that Jongin knew this was getting on his last nerve. He just hoped that he wasn't doing it on purpose, though Jongin was difficult to read most of the time. 

"Jongin, he already told you everything he knew. Would it really surprise you if it was found out that the government planned this from the beginning?" Jongdae sighs while trying to keep him from pissing off Minseok any further. He honestly felt like he was stuck babysitting two androids. Technically that's exactly what he was doing. "Guys, let's not argue with each other, okay? You're both androids, get along." He wasn't sure where exactly he was originally going with that, but he didn't care. "Shouldn't you be sticking together now that you've found each other?" 

"That holds no relevance whatsoever." Minseok deadpans as he stares at Jongdae. 

"I didn't know what else to say." He whines pitifully, lying on the floor afterwards. Minseok stares down at Jongdae, Jongin glancing at Minseok. "You two need to get along if you plan on staying here while Sehun's at work. I can't have you two bickering every day over trivial things."

"Killing a family, _pardon_ ," Jongin corrects himself when Minseok shoots him a glare, "being _accused_ of killing a family is hardly trivial." He mutters under his breath. "And the Loyalists are after him. You're putting yourself in danger when it isn't worth it, Jongdae." 

"He's aware of the threats." Minseok speaks for him. "I didn't let him go into this blind." 

"You kind of did." Jongdae mumbles though quickly looks the other way when Minseok gives him the deadliest glare he could muster. "Well, I'll just prepare us some-" He pauses mid-sentence. Neither of them ate and only Minseok could taste food. What the hell was he supposed to do with two androids? "I'll find a movie for us to watch? Grab a board game? You like games?" Minseok buries his face in his hand in the same manner a child would who was being embarrassed by their parents. "Or you could both stay quiet and I'll just figure out what we'll do in the other room." He says while jumping to his feet after a few seconds of awkward silence passes. "I'll be back." He hums and hurries down the hall in search of movies or games. 

The tension from earlier immediately forms in the air the moment Jongdae steps out of the living room. "What is your-"

"I don't care if you did or didn't kill that family that's been plastered all over the news." Jongin immediately states, his eyes narrowed as he glares holes into Minseok, though he continues speaking before the other has a chance to say anything. "But Jongdae's nice; too nice. It's one of his flaws that's hard to come across in other humans these days. He has a hard time telling people no, but I'm sure you already figured that out." Minseok straightens his posture under Jongin's intense gaze, returning the same glare as the other. "He might not think that his kindness isn't an issue, but I do. And so does Sehun. I'm not sure if you know this, but Jongdae is Sehun's closest friend and he means the world to him. Jongdae makes Sehun happy, and Sehun's happiness is the one thing in this world that I'll never put in harm's way. If anything were to ever happen to Jongdae it would absolutely devastate Sehun. Like Jongdae, Sehun is also too sweet to say anything to you so I will. Let me tell you this one thing and let it be absolutely clear: if anything bad happens to Jongdae because of you, I will not hesitate to kill you myself with my bare hands. I'll make you wish that the Loyalists got to you instead." 

Minseok feels himself grow agitated at this, tilting his head to the side as he raises both eyebrows. "Are you threatening me right now?" 

"It is not a threat but a promise." Jongin states calmly. At this Minseok backs off some, though he doesn't feel the slightest bit intimidated. He does feel slightly creeped out though; he didn't spend most of his free time with the more advanced models. He had seemed to forget how...robotic they acted. "You know," Minseok starts, picking at the skin around his nails mindlessly, "you put too much of your trust in a human. That's never ended well for an android." 

"Am I supposed to be taking advice from you now?" The other scoffs, acting as if his advice were a personal insult. 

"Not advice, more so just stating facts. Can you really afford to put so much of yourself in a human at a time like this? He could be your undoing." 

"You aren't saying anything new to me, 01568975." 

Minseok nearly scoffs at this. "You're referring to me by my manufacturer number? Alright then, 86753090." He says with a bored tone. "That's too much of a mouthful, I think I'll stick with Jongin." He says as he rests his chin on the palm of his hand. "I didn't know newer models could care for humans." 

"We don't." 

"It doesn't come across that way." 

"You worry about yourself and I'll worry about me." It nearly comes out as a growl and Minseok thinks he might have hit a sore spot. It was always interesting to watch an android spiral downwards when realizing that they care for a human. It almost made him feel bad for Jongin. Almost. Before things could get more tense and further escalate Jongdae walks in with four board games stacked in his hands, a proud smile on his lips. "I found the best board games in my closet. Who would have thought?" He chuckles before plopping himself onto the floor. 

"Do we have to play a board game?" Minseok asks with a small sigh.

"Well, let's see." Jongdae purses his lips while tapping his index finger on his chin. "Oh, right. You didn't give me any ideas. So, yes you have to play the stupid board games." He says while Minseok rolls his eyes to the back of his head.

 

 

☽ ☽ ☽

It's Jongdae's second day of watching Jongin and Minseok when things start to go downhill. Though it wasn't in the way that Jongdae had expected it.

"I just don't get it, this isn't like him." Jongdae's voice is trembling and he's having a hard time keeping himself together. He always jumped to conclusions, especially if those conclusions had not-so-nice endings. It was just one of his many flaws. He's pacing around the living room, something that Minseok's noticed he did quite often. "Sehun was supposed to pick up Jongin three hours ago. Not one, not two, but _three_." He stresses while running a hand through his already messy hair. He's never been late coming home from work before, and if he has then he'd always let Jongin know that he wouldn't be coming home on time. 

"He could be working overtime." Jongin says in order to calm the other down. It has little impact.

"Sehun never works overtime. He's lazy and you know that." 

"Great friend he has here." Minseok tosses in, though Jongdae only shrugs off his words. 

"What if something happened? It's too dangerous for him to be out at night. It's too dangerous for him to be out in the day! What if something happened to him? What if he ran into a Loyalist or what if he ran into a gang of disgruntled androids who are mad at the entire human race? Android on human hate crimes happen here, people! Well, technically you're not people but-"

"Jongdae, breathe." Minseok instructs from his spot on the couch. "You're overthinking things. He could be running late like Jongin suggested." Jongin exchanges a wordless glance with Minseok before the pair look back to Jongdae. 

"That's not Sehun. He would have said something; he _always_ says something." His eyes are beginning to water as he tries to avoid thinking about all the things that could be happening or could have happened to his best friend. "We should look for him." Jongdae rushes over to the coffee table, grabbing his white mask and putting it on. He tosses a black mask to Minseok and a red one to Jongin. He grabs his keys from the kitchen counter, a million thoughts running through his head as he hurries to the front door. 

"Jongdae, you aren't thinking straight." Minseok says, appearing in front of Jongdae, his hand slamming down on the door to keep it shut. "Where would we go? It's late out and it's too dangerous for you to go out now. It's night and that's when the gangs start to come out." 

"Which is why we need to leave!" Jongdae nearly shouts. "Sehun is out there! Jongin, say something! You're his roommate for god's sake." Minseok only glances back at Jongin before bringing his attention back to Jongdae. "You aren't thinking rationally. If a Loyalist sees us and alerts their group then it's over. We can't just charge out at night whenever we want to." 

There's tension hanging in the air as Jongdae stares up at Minseok with a glare, Minseok staring down with the same glare. Just as Minseok opens his mouth to comment, there's a harsh banging on the front door. Jongdae nearly shoves Minseok out of the way as he yanks the door open, relief washing over him when seeing his best friend. However, that relief quickly vanishes when seeing the pale and distraught state he's in. Jongin's standing and at the door within seconds, taking the fragile boy into his arms before leading him back over to the couch with Jongdae following after them out of concern. Minseok's gripping onto the doorknob, looking around outside for anyone who shouldn't be there before closing and locking the door. 

"Sehun, what happened?" Jongin asks softly while removing the black mask from his face. He's cradling the shaking man in his arms, Minseok not missing the way that Jongin was staring down at the other. He had adoration in his eyes; something that Minseok had not seen associated with advanced androids, or androids in general. Jongdae's already running around the house in search of blankets and anything else that could make Sehun more comfortable. 

"Here, Sehun. I brought this for you." Jongdae stumbles over his words while carrying over a folded blanket in his arms with two pillows placed on top. "Do you need anything to drink? Tea? Water? Warm milk?" He hands the blanket to Jongin who carefully drapes it over Sehun, placing one pillow behind his back and one behind his head afterwards. 

"I'm fine, thank you." His voice is soft and weak, something that Jongdae's never heard from the other before. He was always loud and confident, not anything like he was right now. 

"What happened?" Jongdae whispers nervously. "Did someone hurt you?" Jongin tenses at the question, eyes narrowing as if expecting Sehun to say that someone did in fact hurt him. However, Sehun shakes his head before Jongin can get caught up in the thought. 

"When I was at work," the blonde clears his throat anxiously before continuing, "some of my coworkers were talking about the news and current events. One of the older women stated that officials are raiding houses now without proper cause."

"What do you mean?" Minseok asks with furrowed eyebrows. 

"It means that they're raiding every house, apartment, condo, trailer, whatever a person can live in to make sure there's no androids living there. It doesn't matter if someone reports you or suspects you; they are going to start searching every registered home in Seoul for androids." Jongin, Jongdae, and Minseok all exchange worried glances with one another. 

"You know this for sure?" Minseok asks. 

"For sure. Apparently they already started doing it in downtown Seoul. One of my coworkers lives in that area and he said that he watched an android get pulled out of his neighbor's apartment. Apparently he'd been hiding him there without anyone knowing and they killed both the android and the person on site. But that's not all." Jongdae raises an eyebrow at this; it could get worse? "They're allowing the Loyalists to raid houses too. That's probably why it's so violent and brutal." 

"Jesus Christ." Jongdae mumbles while running a hand through his hair. This was bad news if he were to put it lightly. If this were the case and the government really did plan on raiding houses they would all be as good as dead. Sehun and Jongin would be executed as well as Jongdae and Minseok, though Jongdae wasn't sure what would happen to him. He knew he would ultimately be killed, but he wasn't so sure that he would receive the luxury of being killed on spot if found harboring a wanted criminal like Minseok. 

"What should we do?" Sehun asks weakly. To see him so upset, Jongdae figured that Sehun never thought that he would get caught with Jongin. He knew he considered it, but it seemed to be one of those things where he more than likely thought his chances would be slim to none of actually having to face this kind of threat. With that and the information that the Loyalists could freely break into anyone's house, that was enough to put anyone on edge. Jongdae didn't blame Sehun for being so freaked out and out of his element. Jongdae even noticed Minseok looking a little out of it. 

"There's only one thing for us to do. We need to leave for Busan." Jongdae thinks he might faint from Jongin's words.

☽ ☽ ☽

_A/N: i know Sehun's blonde in this story but loOK at these handsome boys lmao_

_also i lied. this might be more than three chapters, though the most it would be is five. hope that's okay with you guys!_

__


	3. It's just me & you

_A/N: Warning: there will be blood, violence, & graphic scenes in this chapter. if any of these things trigger you, please read with caution._

☽ ☽ ☽

"Leave for Busan?" Jongdae asks as he tries to keep his voice from cracking. "And how do we do that? _Busan?_ " He repeats the question just to make sure that he's hearing things correctly. 

"Busan." Jongin repeats flatly. "It's too dangerous here. I'll give us a month and a half before we're all dead, and that's being generous. Sehun, what do you think?" His tone is a lot softer as he glances down at the shaking blonde who's nestled himself into Jongin's chest. 

"I just want to be with you." He whispers, his head resting on Jongin's chest and his eyes heavy as he stares off into space. 

"Sehun and I will be leaving for Busan. I think it would be wise that you two come with us." He glances up to look at both Jongdae and Minseok, Jongdae looking far more frantic and stressed out than Minseok. 

"When will you be leaving?" Jongdae asks as he shifts uneasily.

"Tomorrow night. We'll be packing up the essentials when we get back home tonight." Jongdae buries his face in his hands at this, a shaky breath escaping him. He'd have to go, there was no debating it. Jongdae wasn't about to lose the only two friends he had, especially when living in a city like this. He didn't want to go to Busan, of course not. That meant unnecessary dangers and if they got caught they could be executed since the government was cracking down on humans who had an association with androids. "We'll be leaving at exactly midnight. If we don't see you waiting for us by your front door then we're going to assume that you aren't coming and we'll leave without you." Jongdae's heart physically breaks hearing that and he nods his head quickly. 

"Midnight." Jongdae repeats to himself in a whisper before turning around to face Minseok. "Minseok, I have to go with them. I can't," he's getting choked up and he hates it, "I can't let them leave without me." Minseok nods his head in understanding, eyes looking over the shorter male carefully. "Minseok, please come with us. There's no reason for you to stay here. It's too dangerous, you heard what Sehun said. And earlier you said it was too dangerous to travel to Busan alone and that you couldn't trust other groups. What about this one? I'll be in it and surely you trust me to some degree if you're willing to stay in my house for a week." Minseok's caught off guard from the offer. He never thought that Jongdae would actually want to keep him around. Is this what that even was? He could just be doing it out of the kindness in his heart, which after his talk with Jongin wouldn't be that surprising to him. Still, he had no better option and if he did want to escape from Seoul's government then Busan was his best bet. Traveling in a pack with someone he at least knew made it better too. 

Jongdae made it clear that he would be leaving with or without him and Minseok honestly didn't know how he'd get by without Jongdae. He could get by, but it wouldn't be as easy. He simply wanted Jongdae around for the fact that he helped him. That was it. "I'll leave with you." He says after a short few moments of consideration. Jongdae smiles out of relief, lunging himself at Minseok and wrapping his arms around him tightly. Minseok has no idea how to go about this situation or what was even happening. All he knows is that the shorter is burying his face in his chest and for a split second he feels like he can't breathe, which is odd considering he could never breathe in the first place. 

"I'm so glad you're coming." He says before pulling away, a brief feeling of disappointment washing over the other. "I know we've only known each other for a few days, but I still don't want to see anything bad happen to you. At least I'll know that you're okay if you're with me." Minseok wasn't sure if he was hearing things right. Perhaps he was malfunctioning? He's never once in his life had a human worry over his safety, yet here Jongdae was in front of him nearly crying out of relief. He has an instinct to comfort the other, one that he didn't even know he had until now. He wants to reach out and wipe the tears that threaten to fall from his eyes but he doesn't know how to. He's for once at a loss for words, though Jongdae doesn't seem to notice. "Do you think Mimi will be okay if we take her with us? I can't leave her here. That's animal cruelty." 

"If you keep her in your small bag she should be fine. I don't think there's a way for an animal to wear a mask without freaking out or it falling off. Just keep some treats, food, and water in there with her and check in on here whenever it's safe to. Don't want to open the bag too much and have the toxic air slip in." Jongin suggests softly. Jongdae smiles at this, turning around and walking over to Mimi who's napping on the kitchen counter. 

"My little Mimi." He mumbles and scoops up the soft cat into his arms, rocking her slightly as if she were an infant. "Minseok, what do you want me to pack for you?"

"Anything that you believe will be useful. I won't need much so you should focus on the things that you'll need." He says once he regains his composure. 

"I'll pack you some snacks." He mumbles while staring down at his sleeping cat. "Some first aid as well. I don't know if androids require the same kind of first aid that humans do, but it could still be useful, especially if Sehun or I get hurt." Minseok watches the other silently before glancing over to Jongin and Sehun. He didn't know what to think about everything that was going on around him. He wasn't surprised that things had escalated to a point like this; when living in a civil war he should expect things to rise to such a boiling point. It was intimidating to know that the Loyalist groups could raid houses whenever they felt like it without punishment now- at least beforehand they were monitored to a point by the government. 

"We should probably get going," Jongin says as he helps Sehun off the couch carefully, "we'll stop by tomorrow morning to make sure everything's ready for you guys or if you need any last minute help." He has his arm hooked around Sehun's waist, keeping him up against his side as the other was just too emotionally exhausted. "He needs to sleep since tomorrow will be a long day. I advise you to do the same, Jongdae." Jongdae nods while escorting the pair to his door, Jongin putting on Sehun's mask before slipping out the door, disappearing down the walkway and into their apartment. 

Jongdae slumps against the back of his door once it's closed and locked, letting out a long sigh as he slides onto the ground, eyes watery as he shakes his head. Everything had become such a mess. He didn't like change, some could say that he was barely adjusting to how drastically everything changed in Seoul. Now he'd have to move to Busan, though he supposed the change would be for the best this time. 

"What's on your mind?" Minseok asks from the kitchen, pulling food out of the cabinets and grouping them into organized groups. 

"Everything." Jongdae says after a long minute of silence. "I know that this is for the best. I can't live in a place like this forever and neither can you or Jongin or Sehun. I need to just suck it up. This is something that's necessary and things won't get better unless we leave. Jongin's right; we're as good as dead if we stay here. We'd be sitting ducks for people like the Loyalists and even the government. I just wish I was more mentally prepared for this. I'm acting so stupid." He pulls his knees to his chest, curling in on himself as he wraps his legs around his knees. "This was something that I've seen coming. I've just been in denial about it."

"You aren't stupid. This is a normal human response to a stressful situation. You shouldn't belittle yourself for having humanistic reactions." He states while placing certain foods into Ziploc bags. "Sehun is scared too, and even Jongin looked a little stressed out." Jongdae snorts at this. "Okay, maybe Jongin didn't look even remotely stressed when talking about moving to Busan, but he's still stressed. He's just stressed over different things." 

"He's stressed over Sehun, I know. He's probably thinking over a million different scenarios in his head where Sehun gets injured or killed. He'd never admit to it though." He snorts under his breath. "I don't know what to pack, Jongdae. I've never run out of town like this before. I was born and raised in Seoul; it's all I know. I've never even traveled before- how sad is that? I suppose anywhere would be better than here though, right? If Busan means that you, Sehun, and Jongin can live in peace, without having to look over your shoulders every few minutes, then it's worth it. I don't have anything here that I can't get there. I should just be thankful that we found out before anything could happen. I'm being such a brat." He buries his face in his knees as he closes his eyes tightly. Why couldn't he handle things like a grown man? He always had to make a big deal out of everything. 

Jongdae pauses when feeling a presence in front of him, peeking his head up slightly only to lock gazes with Minseok. "Hi." He deadpans.

"Hi." Jongdae chokes out.

"You shouldn't talk about yourself in such a poor way. You're too hard on yourself when you don't need to be. You haven't done anything wrong. You can mourn the life you're leaving behind; that doesn't make you a brat." Minseok purses his lips as he stares at the other with a blank expression. How could a human be so pure? He's never met a human that took the lives of others into such consideration before, placing them above his own as well. He clears his throat to keep himself from becoming distracted. "Jongdae, you're a good person. It's sad to hear you say such things." With that he pushes himself to get out of his crouching position, making his way back into the kitchen as a stunned Jongdae stares silently at his retreating back. 

Jongdae's heart skips and he's not sure why and he certainly doesn't like that it skipped. His eyes narrow at himself slightly before pushing himself to stand back up. He'd stop moping around for now, but he'd finish his pity party later. If there was one thing Jongdae was good at it was throwing himself pity parties and he'd be damned if he didn't finish it. "I have our snacks organized. Most are canned, but some are in boxes and some I've put into Ziploc bags." Minseok says while pushing all the foods together. "And then I'll add food for your cat in Ziploc bags as well." He says, Jongdae shooting him a grateful smile. 

"Thanks. I'd be losing my mind without you." Did he want to admit that? He supposes it didn't matter since he just came out with it anyway. 

"Likewise." Minseok's hesitant to say it though he keeps it short and sweet before turning back to the refrigerator. 

"I don't even know how to get to Busan." Jongdae deadpans after a few minutes. "I never thought I'd need to know the path to get there. I never even bothered looking up maps to Busan."

"It's two and a half hours to take a train there. It's too far to walk so we might stop by towns on the way there, or take a train halfway there. Androids don't suffer from fatigue, but I think Jongin seems to forget we'd be traveling with two humans who'd need to stop for rest. Realistically we could stop for you two to sleep and then Jongin and I could keep a look out." Jongdae frowns slightly from this. He knew that Minseok didn't need sleep, but he still felt a little bad that him and Jongin would be stuck sitting there while him and Sehun slept. It sounded extremely boring. "I can tell that you're overthinking again. I can practically see the gears in your head turning." He fans a towel in Jongdae's general direction. "Smoke is starting to come out."

"Oh, fuck off." Jongdae huffs, a scowl on his lips. 

"Everything will be okay. Take some time to yourself before we leave and get your mind sorted. We can't leave with you a strung out mess." Jongdae smiles slightly from this and nods his head. "Tomorrow at midnight."

"Tomorrow at midnight." Minseok repeats from the kitchen as Jongdae walks down the hall. He walks into his bedroom, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

☽ ☽ ☽

Jongdae wakes up to Mimi sitting on his face, nearly choking when he inhales her fur. "Mimi, Jesus-" he gently pushes her off before sitting up. "What time is it even? Did you wake me up at some ungodly hour?" He mutters while grabbing his phone and checking the time on his lock screen. It was noon, the longest Jongdae's slept in in a while. It could be from all the stress he's been undergoing recently- with having to plan a last minute escape to Busan that day, to making sure him, Minseok, Sehun, Jongin, and Mimi all get there safely, and what to pack. It was just a lot to deal with and a lot to have on his plate at once.

His mind is heavy with thoughts as he thinks over all the different ways things could go wrong while on the way to Busan. They could get killed before they even leave Seoul, they could get mugged and killed by a gang outside of Seoul, they could die from the toxic chemicals in the air- the possibilities were endless. Were they even equipped to travel in a world like this? What if they got mauled by some mutated bear? Or worse- _a goat._ Jongdae shivers at the thought before a light knock is heard on the other side of his door. "You can come in." He knew it was Minseok, who else would it be? Minseok's the only other person staying with him and he would have at least heard Sehun come in through the front door. 

Minseok peeks his head in before opening the door all the way, walking inside carrying two bags. "I put together everything that I thought you would find the most beneficial for our trip." He places the two bags on the end of Jongdae's bed before taking off the small one that was on his back. "This one is for Mimi." He places it on top of the other two bags, looking over at Jongdae after. "First aids, food, clothes, water bottles, things like that." He says while Jongdae unzips the first bag and rummages through it. He was impressed to say the least. He didn't expect Minseok to pack things for him during the night, the action almost flattered him a little. It was probably Minseok's way of keeping him from losing his mind due to stress, though he figured he would never admit to something like that. 

"Thanks, Minseok. This was very kind of you." He zips up the bag, smiling at Minseok as he rubs the sleep away from his eyes.

"I figured it would be a good idea for you to relax the rest of the day before we head out. It wouldn't be good to leave when you're stressed and I kind of figured out the kind of things you would want to pack in the first place." Jongdae sleepily smiles again at this. "How are you feeling about everything? Do you want to go to Busan?"

"Of course not, but I know that it's safer there. I'm fine with Busan, actually. It's just the hassle of getting there that I don't care for. It's unnecessarily dangerous and I wish that things didn't have to come to this." There's a hint of sadness to Minseok's voice as he speaks, his eyes avoiding Jongdae. "I wish things were the way the used to be."

"Busan will be good for you. There will be plenty more androids running about and you won't have to worry about Loyalists or the government coming after you. Busan will do everything they can to keep Seoul's hands off you. I think you'll feel a lot more free once you're there." There's a small frown on his face when Minseok continues to avoid his gaze, though these things just can't be helped. "The trouble will be worth it once we get there. Everyone will be free to be who they are. Sehun and Jongin can walk around freely, you won't have to look over your shoulder every few minutes, and I can enjoy a nice trip to the grocery store to pick up my damn cream cheese." 

Minseok laughs at this, the sound echoing in Jongdae's ears. He's never heard an android laugh before; at least not Jongin anyway. _It's nice_ , he thought. He'd like to hear Minseok laugh more often. He wonders if Minseok laughed a lot before everything happened, before the country fell into a civil war and before the government tried to use him for their propaganda. Maybe when they reach Busan Minseok will have the chance to laugh more. Jongdae thinks he'd like to live in a world where he can hear Minseok's laughs. 

"I'll buy you your cream cheese when we get to Busan." Minseok strolls over to Jongdae's bedroom window, peeking his head out from behind the curtains. It was still dark, the sky a mixture of a thick green and gray. He never really cared for the outdoors much before this, but he really did miss the blue skies and green grass. He knew the sky might actually still be blue and that it was the thick layers of green and gray fog that made everything look so dark. Then again, the fog was so thick that it was hard to tell if the sky truly was still blue beneath everything.  

"As much as we're both dreading it," Jongdae's gazing out the same window from the spot on his bed, "this is a needed change. We aren't safe here and we'll never be safe here."

"Things could be easier for you if I only left. I dragged you into this mess. It's not fair that you have to leave too because of me." Minseok rarely showed anyone a guilty conscience, let alone a human. It was just a side of him that he didn't like to show others. Something about it made him feel vulnerable and was normally very careful with who he showed it to. 

"This would have inevitable with or without you, Minseok. The world is turning to chaos and this is the result of it." A crack of thunder is heard from the sky, Jongdae pulling his blankets up as the sound of rain becomes known, fat droplets of water landing on the roof and hitting the windows. "Do you think it's acid rain or rain rain?" 

"Rain rain?" He pulls a face at this, Jongdae narrowing his eyes out of playfulness. "Do you think it's acid rain or water rain?" 

"Acid rain." Minseok snorts as he looks around the window. "It's only ever acidic rain. Hopefully it doesn't rain while we head to Busan." Minseok didn't like the rain; acidic or not. It was just a pain in the ass to navigate through and he hated the feeling of being drenched. He wasn't as waterproof as a model like Jongin was, but he also wasn't at the stage where water would completely fry him either. Still, even if he was a newer model like Jongin he'd still hate the rain. It was never something he'd grow fond of. 

Jongdae's keeping his eyes on Minseok, the other acting in a way that he wasn't used to. He wasn't sure why he was rambling to him or why he was even telling Jongdae that he felt at least somewhat responsible for everything that was happening. "Are you nervous about tonight?" He wasn't surprised when Minseok offered him no answer, though he thought asking couldn't hurt. He knew Minseok would only offer so much of himself at once, if at all. "You can't be more worked up than me." He tries to make the situation lighter, though the other doesn't seem interested in his small talk. 

"Jongin doesn't seem excited about the move tonight." 

"Jongin was never a man big on change." Jongdae remarks simply. "Sehun's always been more open to the idea. He brought it up a few times before, but last night he wasn't in the right mind set to be making decisions. I'm glad Jongin made one for him." 

"How can Sehun be so comfortable with an android making a decision like that for him? Most humans I've seen wouldn't have been so okay with an android speaking for them. Especially in a situation where they were as distraught as him." Minseok's scanning the roads outside that he can see, already trying to mentally map out the best escape routes. 

"Sehun has always liked androids more than humans. He gets on with them better. He says they're kinder and more open; less judgemental- which I find bullshit since you're the most judgemental android I know." He scrunches his nose as he speaks.

"That's coming from you?" He asks, drawing the curtains closed when seeing government officials strolling the empty streets. 

"Jongin knows what's best for Sehun. Even if he's not happy himself with the idea of leaving town, as it would put Sehun at risk, Jongin will do whatever he wants. He just wants him happy. It's kind of sweet when I think about it." Jongdae yawns loudly when the rain grows louder, curling up in his sheets. "It's rainy days like these that make me want to sleep all day." Jongdae could still notice the tension in the other though, a small frown curving his lips downward. "Minseok, things will be okay. Why don't you-" he licks his lips as he climbs out of bed, "why don't you rest instead?"

Minseok turns away from the window and looks at Jongdae as if he's grown a second head. "I don't need to rest."

"I know, I know. You can't grow tired." Jongdae waves his hand around dismissively. "But you're stressed and you should rest. This trip will be exhausting; not just for me and Sehun. Cuddle up with Mimi in my bed and I'll finish packing; make sure that we didn't leave anything out." He knew it was highly unlikely that Minseok would forget something, he probably ran thousands of different scenarios in his mind for what could happen and what they might need. He was an android after all, and androids were designed to be better than humans at nearly everything. "Cats can be quite therapeutic, you know. You don't have to worry about Mimi not liking you. She likes everything and everyone else more than she likes me." 

Minseok's hesitant, though he approaches the bed nonetheless and cautiously climbs underneath the sheets. "You don't need to act like my bed will swallow you alive. It's just a bed and Mimi's just a cat."  

Without a further word Jongdae heads out the door, making his way into the kitchen. Minseok already explained to him earlier what he packed, but Jongdae figured they could afford to take some extra things with them as well- that is if the room in their bags allowed for it. He pulls out a mug from the cabinet, his favorite mug, actually. The mug was white with the cartoon of a cat on it, a wide smile curved on its lips, bug eyes staring at him. It was incredibly cute; both Sehun and Jongin saved up to by him a pack of three- each mug having a different image of the cartoon cat on it. They bought it for his birthday shortly before the civil war broke out in Korea. It was one of the few things he cherished and it was definitely something "extra" that he would be packing with them. He places the mug on the counter, searching the sad excuse of his pantry for a packet of hot chocolate mix. He knew Minseok liked hot chocolate, the android nearly finished off the entire untouched pack. He'd pack some of that too, only to be nice of course. 

"The perfect thing to help cope with stress." He hums to himself. He grabs the mug and fills it halfway with water before sticking it in the microwave. Normally he'd boil the water on the stove, other times he'd use milk, but Minseok seemed to prefer his hot chocolate microwaved. Odd, but whatever he wanted Jongdae would do. It's done heating within two minutes, Jongdae pouring in the contents of the bag, mixing it all together with a spoon. He opens a bag of marshmallows he took out from the pantry, adding three to the top of the warm drink. He also noticed that Minseok enjoyed only three marshmallows- two was too less and four was too many. He picks up the mug and carefully brings it to the room, his head peering inside. 

"That was quick." Minseok comments when seeing the other from the doorway. "Did you find anything else to pack?" 

"A few things." Jongdae replies before fully walking into the room, bringing Minseok the mug of hot chocolate. "I made you some. I know how you enjoy your hot chocolate." Minseok startles at this, a bashful smile appearing on his lips as he takes the warm mug out of the other's hands. 

"You didn't have to." He says softly, glancing down at the steaming drink. "You put three marshmallows in." He observes, a warmth filling his chest as he raises the mug to his lips, a sigh of content leaving him once he takes a sip. "Just the way I like it." 

"I'll let you rest some more. We both need as much strength as we can gather for us." Jongdae watches as Mimi curls up to Minseok's side, purring in content as she rubs up against him. "I'll get you if I need help with anything."

☽ ☽ ☽

Jongdae's not sure why he spent most of the afternoon cleaning dishes when he was just going to leave most of his dishes behind anyway. In fact, he rarely cleaned in the first place, so go figure he'd actually start cleaning before ditching his home. He's silently dragging the wet and soapy sponge over a dirty plate, the water running in the background as he spaces out. He glances up at the clock hanging above the sink. It was two in the afternoon, Jongin and Sehun would be stopping by soon to discuss some last minute details about the escape routes and their plan. He still wasn't sure how they were going to know which roads to take- he assumed Jongin and Minseok could scan the surrounding areas and determine what was safe and what wasn't. 

He still couldn't believe the situation he had managed to throw himself in, but he was growing more and more used to the idea now than originally. He felt somewhat comfortable around Minseok now, and he'd still have Sehun and Jongin with him. He still didn't really know Minseok's end goal. Would he ditch him as soon as things got complicated? Would they part ways never to speak again once they reached Busan? What if Minseok has been lying this whole time; can he even trust someone like that? Minseok didn't really give him a reason to trust him, but he also never gave him a reason not to trust him. 

He sighs softly as he places the wet plate onto the dish rack for it to dry. Maybe he'd get a nicer apartment in Busan. Despite all the uncertainties that lied within the near future, at least Jongdae would be able to see Sehun and Jongin finally happy, finally carefree. Hiding something like that- a secret relationship that was beyond forbidden at this point was bound to take a toll on the human body. Sehun was still cheerful, witty, and sarcastic, but Jongdae noticed the change within him over the last two years and he's sure Jongin's noticed it as well. It would be impossible for him not to notice, weren't androids designed to notice these kinds of things?

A loud thud from the distance startles him out of his thoughts, one of Jongdae's cat mugs from Sehun and Jongin slipping from his hands and shattering onto the tiled floor beneath him. He swears loudly as he bends over to clean up the mess, whining when seeing the damage was unrepairable. He starts to gently collect the shards of glass, the skin of his index finger getting nicked on a shard. He swears once again when red liquid starts to ooze from his finger tip, carrying the glass over to the trash bin and dumping it in. Well, at least he had more room to sneak two mugs with them now. Still, that was his favorite one of the three. It was the mug that reminded him of himself the most with the cartoon cat sticking it's tongue out happily, sporting the same signature curved smile that Jongdae often wore. They even had similar eyebrows- it was eerily uncanny how the picture resembled him. 

Just as he cleans the glass off the floor, another thud is heard before loud banging in the distance. Shouts were heard, though the voices were muffled and nearly impossible for him to make out. Panic starts to wash over him though when remembering how Sehun informed him about Loyalists barging into houses. He rushes down the hall towards his room, frantically looking for Minseok. What if the Loyalists came to take Minseok away? What if someone tipped the government officials off about him harboring Minseok? He nearly slams the bedroom door open, Minseok jolting up from his comfortable position. 

"Jongdae, what's wrong?" There's a concerned expression on Minseok's face and Jongdae doesn't really put much thought into what he's doing. He hurries over to the bedside, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. He scurries onto the bed, cupping Minseok's cheeks gently as he looks over the android, double checking for any injuries. Realistically he knew he wouldn't have any, but the sudden loud noises and commotion made him anxious. "What are you doing?" Minseok's stiff, not used to affection or any type of intimacy from a human. 

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He's still looking the other over, sighing in relief when confirming to himself that Minseok was indeed alright. 

"I'm not hurt; I'm fine." Minseok's carefully pulling Jongdae's hands away, so gentle as if he were afraid of hurting the other. Before Minseok can question Jongdae's actions and motives, he notices the blood on Jongdae's finger. "You're bleeding. Are you hurt?"

Jongdae glances down at his index finger, shaking his head after. "I dropped a mug and cut myself cleaning it up. I'm fine." Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of wood creaking under pressure and the splintering of wood echoing throughout the room, so loud that Jongdae's ears nearly started to ring. 

"They're coming to get you. I think someone reported us, Minseok." There's alarm and panic in Jongdae's voice as he speaks, his heart slamming against his ribcage. "They're going to bust down every door until they find you, right?" Minseok's eyes widen slightly at this before he hurries off the bed, Jongdae following his lead. "What should we do? If we run out they'll see us and we'll have every damn Loyalist in the city after us." 

"You'll be okay. I won't let anyone hurt you." Minseok instinctively has Jongdae stay behind him as he grabs the packed bags from the bed, handing them to Jongdae. "We need to leave now."

"What about Sehun and Jongin?" Jongdae's near hysterical at the thought of leaving without his best friend. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen; things weren't supposed to go like this. He just came to terms with leaving, but like this? He wasn't ready for this. It's when a scream belonging to a familiar voice echoes in the distance that Jongdae finally puts two and two together.

They weren't here for Minseok. 

" _Jongdae, no._ " It's as if Minseok can read Jongdae's thoughts when his hands grab hold of his wrists, pulling the shorter into his chest. He keeps a tight hold on the other, trying to subdue his movements despite the amount of struggling from the other. 

"Let me go!" He shouts, shoving against Minseok with all the strength he had inside of him. "They need us!" 

"What are you going to do? Run in there and get shot in the head? Think rationally!" How was Jongdae supposed to think rationally when his worst nightmares were coming true just two doors down? How could anyone think rationally? It's when a thought forms in his head that Jongdae stills completely, Minseok loosening his hold when deeming the other stable. That's when Jongdae takes his chance, shoving Minseok away roughly as he darts down the hall, tripping over his feet and it feels like the floor is pulled right out from under him as he collides onto the ground just before reaching the living room. Minseok's right behind him and he's pushing himself up and throwing himself out the front door within seconds.

He stops as soon as he gets outside, everything around him in utter chaos. Everything Jongdae could see was a mess. Sehun's door had been busted down, dirty and muddy footprints leading inside. He could hear voices shouting, voices that didn't belong to either Sehun or Jongin. His heart is two seconds from jumping out of his chest and Jongdae desperately wishes that he never woke up from his nap. Maybe he was still dreaming; just an intense nightmare instead. One that felt real but wasn't. He's so focused on the scene in front of him that he doesn't notice the strange metallic taste in the back of his mouth or the tingling he feels whenever he breathes in. 

His feet are walking without his brain telling them to move, Sehun's apartment drawing him in closer and closer. He's almost inside when a hand clamps over his mouth, roughly pulling him back and shoving him behind a flight of stairs located at the end of the hall right by Sehun's apartment. Jongdae doesn't even have time to scream before Minseok's forcing the mask onto his face that he grabbed from the coffee table, eyes wide and filled with panic as he stares at him in disbelief. "Are you fucking insane?" Minseok swears in a hushed whisper. "You could have gotten yourself killed. And you come out without a mask on? What will kill you first? The chemicals you're breathing in or the people in their apartment who think you're an android?" His tone was harsh, but Minseok was worried and he didn't care if Jongdae thought he was coming off as rude. Jongdae's about to say something smart before the voices come outside, much louder than they were before. He peers over from the stairs, watching in complete and utter horror as Jongin and Sehun are roughly shoved out by people wearing badges on their arms that immediately caught his attention.

The badge was of a black scorpion with gold dripping off its tail and two front pinchers that's kept inside a dark red square. The Loyalists. Minseok forces Jongdae to sit back down when they get closer, eyes wide as he tries to figure out their best plan of action. He's never been so close to a group of Loyalists before and he had no idea what to do. Things could turn very deadly if they were to find out that Kim Minseok, criminal of all criminals was staying in the apartment right next door. Jongdae peers back up anyway, especially when hearing Sehun's harsh and loud voice.

"You have no proof of anything." His words drip with venom and he's glaring holes into the man standing across from him. There's a third behind him who's holding a gun that's pressed against Sehun's spine. Neither of them are wearing masks, probably due to the fact that they barged into their home and forced them out without any time to grab their belongings. 

"You should be grateful that we're feeling generous today." A taller man says, his large eyes staring down at Sehun without emotion behind them. Both Jongdae and Sehun feel a brief wave of hope wash over them, though Minseok and Jongin are both wearing the same grim expression. "Line it up." Sehun flinches from the harsh tone of the man and how he speaks with a complete disregard for human life. The man standing behind Sehun lowers his gun, instead forcing both his arms behind his back as he keeps him in a tight grip. 

"Chanyeol, you want it here?" A man who's just as tall as "Chanyeol" asks. 

"There is fine, Yifan." Yifan, the man who was originally standing behind Jongin forces him against the brick wall of their apartment, making it to where his back was facing Chanyeol and Sehun. 

"What are you doing?" Sehun asks with a voice filled to the brim with panic. "He's not an android!" He shouts as he struggles in his captor's hold. He his squeezes his eyes shut when seeing Chanyeol lift his gun. Sehun knew what he had to do and he knew he was going to regret it. Based off a decision made only in seconds, Sehun jerks his head back suddenly, his head throbbing and ears ringing as his head collides with the man's behind him. He can hear the man yelling swear words as he escapes his grip, turning around quickly punching the man in the face. He manages to dodge Yifan when he comes charging towards him. He throws a punch to Yifan's face as well, Chanyeol sighing as he watches everything unfold in front of him. 

"You two really can't subdue one boy?" His annoyance and impatience only heightens as he watches Yifan struggle with Sehun. "Christ sake, I really have to do everything around here." Within seconds he has his pistol pulled out and aimed at Sehun, eyes dark as he stares in front of him as Sehun freezes in his spot, Yifan backing off. "I'll spare you if you stop now. It doesn't have to be this way." 

Minseok already knows what's about to happen and he tugs Jongdae back down, forcing him into his chest so that he won't be able to see anything. Jongdae's resisting against his hold, though he applies his android strength which could easily subdue the average person. Jongdae's pressing his hands against his chest, trying to push himself away so he can see what's happening. He has to see what's happening. He could still help him, they could still be saved. Nothing was set in stone yet; it didn't need to be. This didn't have to be the way things ended. 

"Let Jongin go. He's a human." Sehun can already taste the all too familiar metallic taste in his mouth, his lungs burning with every breath he takes. He knows that Jongin is fine and his appearance might be giving that away. 

"You're joking, right? Look at it and then look at you. You're dying from the air." He says behind his mask. "And it looks perfectly fine. No paleness to the skin, no short breath, your fingernails are turning a pale yellow. Why does its fingernails look fine?" Sehun swears under his breath for how observant he was. It made sense though. Loyalists had to be observant if they wanted to hunt down androids. 

"He isn't an it!" Sehun shouts, finally fed up with how Chanyeol was speaking of Jongin, as if he were simply an object. Maybe in his eyes that's all he was, but not to Sehun. 

"It's so sad when humans fall for those metal monsters. You're a traitor to your own species. Your kind deserved to be wiped off the face of the planet." Minseok keeps a tighter grip on Jongdae, knowing that the end was approaching. A loud 'pop' goes off, loud enough to make Jongdae's ears ring as he keeps his face pressed into the fabric of Minseok's shirt. After the loud pop there's the sound of something, rather _someone_ , hitting the ground within seconds, the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air. He can hear it though, he can hear the deafening the silence and the blood pouring onto the concrete. It's silent, _so silent_ and he's praying to every god he could think of to make it to where Sehun wasn't the one who was shot. Maybe Sehun snatched the gun from Yifan earlier and used it on Chanyeol. 

"This was more of a mess than I wanted." Everything in Jongdae's world comes crumbling down around him at the sound of Chanyeol's voice that cuts through the thick silence. His fingers curl into the fabric of Minseok's shirt, tugging him closer, Minseok's arms wrapping around the shaking man.

Jongin's eyes are closed and for once he can feel as if he has a heart that's pounding in his chest. He doesn't want to open his eyes, he doesn't want to look. Curiosity is deadly though and Jongin turns around ever so slowly, a harsh gasp leaving him when seeing Sehun's body a mangled heap on the ground. Chanyeol and Yifan are too busy talking to one another and helping up the unconscious man to notice Jongin's footsteps approaching the blonde. He drops to his knees beside his body, his hands trembling as he tries to compute everything that was going on. 

Jongin didn't understand death; it was something the more advanced models weren't capable of. He knew what it looked like but he still didn't understand it. He just knows that something's terribly wrong with Sehun. "Sehun." He whispers, trembling hands scooping the body into his arms. His head lolls back, eyes open and glossy, staring into the far distance. "Sehun, wake up." Jongdae's shaking violently in Minseok's arms and Minseok's doing all he can to keep the other from sobbing out loud in risk of blowing their cover. His hand rubs at his back soothingly, keeping the shorter against him as if his life depended on it-- it technically did. 

A noise leaves Jongin that Jongdae's never heard before and he can feel Minseok suddenly grow stiff. Minseok peers over to look at Jongin, eyebrows furrowed. He was crying, or at least trying to. Androids couldn't cry, they couldn't produce tears, but everything that Jongin was doing-- heaving, shaking, the facial expression, he was crying. He just lacked the tears. "Sehun, please wake up." He begs silently. His plea unsurprisingly falls onto deaf ears with Sehun remaining absolutely still in his hold. He examines the sticky and bloody mess in Sehun's blonde hair, a small bullet hole in the middle of his forehead that was oozing out blood. He then looks down at the pool of blood staining the concrete, a desperate and last ditch attempt forming in his mind. Humans couldn't lose blood, Jongin knew this. If humans lost too much blood they could die. He doesn't know what he's expecting from this, but he hoists the boy up in his arms, resting him against his chest as he leans over just the slightest to scoop the red liquid into his hands. If he could get the blood back into Sehun's wound then maybe he would wake back up, right?  "You just need it back in you." He whispers to the still blonde, trying to carefully pour the blood back into the bullet wound. 

It doesn't work of course and the blood only drips down Sehun's pale face. Realization sets in that Sehun won't be waking up, the corners of his lips twitching as he feels an indescribable pain spread throughout his body. He didn't want to come to terms with the fact that the blonde he cared so much for was gone. He carefully places Sehun back onto the ground before carefully pushing himself to stand back up. He stumbles over to Chanyeol and Yifan, their backs against him as they talk over something casually. He grabs the gun from the back of Yifan's belt, shooting him once in the back of his head, watching as he drops to the ground lifelessly. Chanyeol spins around, though Jongin fires a bullet through his head before he can even have a proper reaction. He stands in the middle of the bodies surrounding him on the ground, his eyes staring down at the pistol in his hands. 

Minseok keeps Jongdae in his hold, not wanting him to see what was happening. Jongin wasn't Jongin anymore. His brain was too scattered to fully comprehend things and he was afraid that he might retaliate and kill Jongdae if he saw him. Sehun was dead and was killed by humans. All Jongin would do from this point on would be to associate humans to the death of Sehun. It was understandable but also dangerous. He knew what he was talking about when he warned Jongin that humans would be the cause of his undoing and it seemed as if he were right. Minseok watches as Jongin raises the pistol to his head, eyes locking with Minseok, Jongin's eyes holding an emotion that he's never seen in an android before. He pulls the trigger right after as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Maybe at that point it was the easiest thing for Jongin to do. There's no blood, no guts, no brain matter. It's clean and Jongin's on the ground within seconds, his eyes black as he stares lifelessly at the sky above him. 

Minseok finally lets go of Jongdae, swallowing hard as Jongdae stands up. He couldn't prevent Jongdae from seeing the horror scene in front of them. It was just impossible. He closes his eyes when hearing a scream erupt from Jongdae's lungs. It's nothing he's ever heard before; the pain and desperation in the voice. Jongdae doesn't know what to think, his mind blank yet racing with hundreds of thoughts all at the same time. His legs are shaking as he approaches the bodies of Sehun and Jongin, swallowing a lump before collapsing to his knees. "Th-this wasn't how things were supposed to go." He whispers out in a hoarse voice, his cheeks stained with tears. He's holding Sehun in his arms, glancing over at the empty shell of what once was Jongin. 

A loud cry leaves him as he pulls Sehun closer, hunching over as he only cries more, his body shaking violently as he lets everything out. How could things go so horribly wrong only hours before they were supposed to leave? They should have left last night when they had the chance. He needed to grieve; he needed time to mourn. Nothing would be the same after this- not when his best and only friend was ripped away from him so suddenly, so suddenly and yet without a care in the world from the person who did it. He was there one moment and then gone the very next. He couldn't understand how the world worked sometimes. He couldn't understand how _humans_ worked sometimes. How could they be so cold to one another? He couldn't understand; he didn't want to understand. 

There's a comforting hand on his shoulder, a gentle squeeze that reminds Jongdae that he's not entirely alone, at least not yet. "We need to go." Minseok's voice comes out as a soft whisper, though Jongdae seems reluctant to leave behind the only two people he's ever known. 

"We need to bury them." 

There's silence in the air as Minseok gazes down at Jongdae, a soft sigh leaving him. "We don't have time. Once the Loyalists find out that...that an android killed off their people, they'll be swarming this place. We can't wait until midnight, we need to leave now." Jongdae's quick to shake his head, only holding the limp body in his arms even tighter. "They deserve a proper burial." 

"Jongdae," his voice is stern, "if we don't leave now, we won't leave at all. I know how much they meant- _mean_ to you, and as much as I'd like to give them a proper burial we just don't have the time. We need to leave. This is for your own safety. We need to get Mimi and then quick leave. Do you have all your bags?" Jongdae nods his head slowly, a glossy and distant look in his eyes. Minseok expected this. He knew how complicated humans could get when it came to dealing with their emotions and dealing with a sudden and unexpected death would certainly destroy a person. "I am here for you." Minseok takes hold of Jongdae's hand when the shorter stands up, hands and shirt coated in the blood of Sehun. "We will change your clothes as well-"

"No. Leave it. If it's my only reminder of him then so be it." Minseok only nods his head in response as he guides Jongdae back to their apartment. He just hoped that they would be able to leave before the Loyalists came back. He had a feeling that their time was running short the longer they stayed here.

☽ ☽ ☽

_A/N: i'm so sorry have cute xiuchen pics_ _to make up for my sins_

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_also cat mugs for a cat boy lmao_

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	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: there's brief mention of animal death in this chapter. Please read with caution if this is something that's triggering to you. 

"Don't look at anyone- no eye contact, no polite smiles, nothing." Jongdae whispers to Minseok while the two make their way down the busy and polluted streets of Seoul. "We can't risk having anyone notice you." Even though Minseok's face hadn't been plastered on the flyers, the news still showed sketches of him, as well as CCTV footage and since he no longer had Sehun or Jongin with him, he couldn't risk losing Minseok too. 

The two men were wearing black caps, masks, thick coats, scarves, and gloves. Each boy had a bag on their back as they stayed close to one another. "Which route do we take?" He whispers while glancing around their surroundings. It was the middle of the day; not midnight like they had originally planned. Because of the Loyalist group storming in and raiding Sehun and Jongin's house, Minseok and Jongdae were forced to leave early, or should they stay put and get caught when the next group arrives to investigate the bodies of their three men. 

"We can't escape in the middle of the day. Too many witnesses." Minseok replies curtly. He was right. There were too many Loyalists and government officials patrolling the area, there was no way they'd be able to escape now. "We have to find a place to stay until midnight. The curfew is set for eight at night and by then there's only a few officials wandering the ground. We can take on a few if we have to compared to the amount that's out now." Jongdae hoped that wouldn't be the case. He didn't want any confrontation; he was about as useful as a stick in a fight. If anything he'd probably get the both of them killed. 

"You don't have any place in mind, do you?" Minseok's question pulls Jongdae from his worries, his throat dry as he keeps his head down. Most people in the city kept their heads down. No one wanted to get caught up in the mess that was Seoul. Jongdae swallows dryly as his mind tries to come together with something. They needed to find some place and soon, if they stood out any longer they might draw some unwanted attention. It's not your average citizen that walks around with backpacks in the middle of the day. 

"Sehun knew a guy who," he quickly looks around to make sure no one besides Minseok is listening, ultimately lowering his voice afterwards, "who's a Red Shirt. His name is Lay. I don't know if he's an android or a human on their side, but Sehun trusted him. I've never met him, but he told me once where he stayed. If we can find him and tell him that we know," his breath hitches, " _knew_ Sehun, he might trust us and let us in. He lives in an abandoned building across the Han River. We need to cross the Banpo Bridge and get into Banpo 3; that's where he lives. Once we get there, he's about ten minutes from the bridge." 

"The Banpo Bridge is blocked off by the government." Minseok states while the two turn a corner, feet tapping loudly against the concrete beneath them. "Banpo is a war-zone. It's a death trap to both humans and androids alike. Everyone in that area is every man for himself. We try to cross the bridge and the government officials will shoot us dead. Every official knows my face by now." He shuffles closer to Jongdae's side as a man hurries past them, nearly knocking into Minseok in the process. "They probably have my identification number memorized at this point." 

"He might be our only hope, Minseok." Jongdae sighs when seeing the flyers about Minseok scattered on the streets and sidewalks. "Lay might even be able to accompany us to Busan." 

"That still doesn't solve how we cross the bridge. Say we do somehow miraculously cross the bridge, then what? We get robbed and killed the moment we step foot into Banpo 3? Could this guy live in a more inconvenient place?" 

"That's probably the point, Minseok. He's a Red Shirt. He can't live out in the open in a city dominated by Loyalists." He mutters under his breath. At this point, Jongdae wasn't sure if he cared about getting killed anymore. Was any of this even worth it? Still, he figured he might at least try before giving up completely. "I don't see any other option coming into play. We need Lay and he might be able to find a quicker route--"

"He can't find a quicker route than me." Minseok scoffs. Jongdae only rolls his eyes in response. 

"Like it or not, we can't do this all alone. Busan isn't close by foot-- in fact, it's rather far, isn't it?" He deadpans. "And it's in the middle of a freezing winter. But," he purses his lips as an idea comes to mind. It wasn't the best idea, but it was still an idea. "The officials scan civilians who want to cross the bridge, right?" Minseok nods his head in response. "That's how they check to see if they're letting humans or androids pass. They'd automatically see that I'm an android by scanning me if they haven't already recognized my face." 

"So we'll swim across the river." Minseok nearly trips over his own feet at the suggestion. 

"Jongdae, are you hearing yourself right now?" He turns with wide eyes to look at the human. "It's the middle of winter, and you're suggesting that we swim in cold and icy water? I can handle it, sure, but you are still a human. Did you forget that? You could get killed-- carried away by a current. You could get sick, even develop hypothermia or frostbite!" 

"Minseok, there's no other way. We have to cross the Han River one way or another, and so far swimming across it seems to be the only way. Officials don't bother chasing after people swimming across the river anyway--"

"Because it's literal suicide." 

"You'll be fine, right?"

"Androids can't get cold, Jongdae."

"I meant, I wanted to make sure that your components wouldn't start to freeze over if you got too cold." Jongdae chews on his bottom lip while looking around the now mostly empty street. 

"If my components start to freeze over then you really shouldn't be in the water." Minseok warns. He didn't have a good feeling about this. Nothing about this was sound or logical. However, he couldn't route another way to get to Banpo 3, and they certainly couldn't cross the Banpo Bridge. "What if you cross and I swim across? You don't need to swim across because of me. Just show them your ID and let them scan you. They'll let you go across then."

"I'm not letting you swim across the river alone, Minseok. That isn't fair for you." He looks around and motions for Minseok to follow him across the streets when no cars were spotted. The two rush across the street, heading down towards the grass and concrete that lined the river. Minseok's doubts only grew more as they approached the Han River. 

"Shit." Jongdae swears loudly when seeing the icy and frozen surface of the water. "I didn't think it would be frozen."

"So we'll cross the bridge instead. You're a human; all you have to do is hand over your ID and let them scan you. Then they can let you cross. I can figure out another way--" Jongdae cuts Minseok off by approaching the edge of the river, seemingly disregarding everything the android was saying. He drops to his knees, pressing the palms of his hands right against the ice. He presses down for a few minutes, seemingly pleased when he doesn't hear any ice cracking in the distance. 

"Tell me you're joking." Minseok gapes when Jongdae stands back up and carefully places one foot on the surface to test his weight. "The ice seems firm. We could probably walk across it if we're careful."

"Jongdae, just cross the bridge!" Minseok shouts.

"And leave you here? We have to get to Banpo together, and then Busan. I can't leave you, Minseok." He sighs loudly while turning to face the other. "You and I are in this mess together. Wherever you go, I go and wherever I go, you go. That's how this thing works." He walks back up to Minseok. "I know that this whole thing is crazy, but we don't have any safe options, Minseok. This seems to be the option that could have the highest success rate." He says while making sure that Mimi was comfortable in his bag. She was sleeping. That's a good sign. "If we take it slow and easy, we should be okay." 

Everything inside Minseok was telling him that this was a bad idea, yet the confident and certain look in Jongdae's eyes made him doubt his own instincts. "Slow and easy?" He asks uncertainly. "You won't suddenly run across the river, will you? You won't do anything stupid?" His eyes are narrow as he questions the shorter. "If I have to run after you to save you from doing something stupid, I'll end up killing you myself." Jongdae only grins at this, dismissively waving a hand in the air.

Minseok's the first one to step onto the ice after insisting that he go before Jongdae-- just to make sure it was safe, of course. Minseok's staring at his feet the entire time, making sure that no cracks beneath him begin to form. Jongdae doesn't seem to be as nervous, though he still was making sure to be as cautious as possible. "Have you ever walked on ice before?" It was small talk, but Jongdae could see that Minseok was growing stressed with each passing second. Maybe Jongdae should have been scared too. 

"Ice on top of a river? I can't say that I have." He mutters in response. "We should walk directly under the bridge. The officials won't be able to see us if we're right under them." He was right. Jongdae wasn't sure why they were walking out in the open. It was dangerous, in fact if a guard had spotted them they could be shot on the spot. It was as if his thought had cued something, because in that exact moment something pierces the icy surface right beside him. Within a split second, Minseok's grabbing onto Jongdae's arm and the two are running across the ice as shouting can be heard in the distance.

"So much for not being seen." Minseok hisses as a bullets fly by the fleeing pair. 

"They don't shoot on the river!" Jongdae shouts in pure and utter confusion. It was a known fact that government officials never fired at people crossing the river. Maybe this time it was different as they weren't swimming, but instead running over the ice. 

"Just stay close to me." Minseok instructs. Within a minute he can see a pair of guards climbing onto the frozen river, swearing loudly under his breath when seeing that they had K-9s with them, particularly German Shepherds and Rottweilers. "Fuck; they're going to break the ice if they aren't careful."

"What if they do that on purpose?" Jongdae asks while craning his neck to look behind him. Those dogs looked intimidating. "You think those dogs will tear us to shreds?"

"Most definitely." Minseok comments. "Just keep running no matter what. If I get shot, don't stop. If a dog attacks me, don't stop. Do you understand?" Jongdae nods his head despite knowing that he'd stop for Minseok anyway. Only because he didn't want to travel to Busan by himself. 

"Stop now! This is your last and final warning!" The officer is using a megaphone to shout through, the deep voice sending chills down Jongdae's spine. "We will aim to kill if you do not cooperate as you will be marked as traitors to Seoul." 

"Reassuring to know that they're missing on purpose." Minseok deadpans. 

"Do we stop?" 

"No, we keep running." Minseok says as he pulls Jongdae along with him. "They will kill us anyway, especially when they find out who I am. Right now they might just think we're random defectors." Jongdae's squeezing onto Minseok's hand as they continue to run, though when a bullet grazes Jongdae's arm he becomes startled and trips over his foot in result. 

"Jongdae, are you alright?" Minseok asks and immediately crouches down, helping the shorter back up to his feet. "Are you hurt?" He asks when seeing the blood on Jongdae's arm, the clothing torn from where the bullet made contact with it. Jongdae shakes his head in response.

"It only grazed me. I was just startled." Minseok immediately tugs on his hand then, their legs moving as fast as their bodies would allow. "We can't stop. They're sending their K-9s after us." They keep running and Jongdae could have sworn that he thought it wouldn't take this long to cross the Han River, but maybe it's the guards and K-9s running after them that's making this whole process seem longer than it actually is. 

Minseok's reminded of how fragile humans are when Jongdae's gripping onto his hand, panting loudly as his legs begin to break down. He couldn't run much longer at their current speed. They didn't have much of a choice though-- the K-9s were right behind them. The loud and deafening barking was growing on Minseok's last nerve, and it was seemingly freaking out the other boy. 

"How are you holding up?" He asks when looking back at the other. "We're almost across. Once we get far enough inland we can take a quick break." He forgot that humans had a poor stamina overall. It was moments like these where he was glad he wasn't human. Such tedious things they had to deal with. 

"I don't know if I can keep going." A feeling of exhaustion and dread is spreading throughout Jongdae. He didn't think his ending would involve dogs ripping him apart-- he might have preferred being shot by a government official. 

"You have to, Jongdae. You don't have a choice." A bullet suddenly pierces through Minseok's back, the android immediately falling to the ground. 

"Minseok!" Jongdae drops to the ground within seconds, not noticing the ice that's starting to crack around them. "Minseok? Minseok, you need to get up." He was starting to panic. The android was blank, his eyes black just like Jongin's had been after he...after he _shut down_. He grabs the other by his shoulders, shaking him firmly. "Minseok, _please!_ " He shouts, turning his head slightly to see the K-9s catching up to them. Could a bullet to his back kill him? Jongdae thought it would have been harder to kill an android. There was... _green_ everywhere, a liquid that he assumed to serve as an android's blood. 

He couldn't be gone. There was just no way that he would allow this. He didn't want to be alone. Sehun was gone. Jongin was gone. He couldn't let Minseok go too. He couldn't be alone. He didn't want to be alone. Not in a world like this. He needed someone, _anyone._  "Minseok," tears are welling up in Jongdae's eyes as he shakes the other once again. He lets out a scream when he's shoved into the ice, loud growling and barking in his ear before a harsh pain is followed. A blood-curdling scream forces itself out of Jongdae's lips when sharp teeth pierce into his flesh, most certainly tearing away at it. He throws his elbow back, managing to effectively elbow the dog off him. He pushes himself to sit up, gasping loudly when seeing one of the dogs biting into Minseok's arm. 

"Get away from him!" He shouts, grabbing Minseok's bag that had been dropped onto the ground and slamming it against the dog's side. He didn't care if Minseok was dead. He wasn't going to let a dog tear his body up no matter what. He'd give him a proper burial, something he couldn't give to Sehun and Jongin. He attacks the dog with his bag, repeatedly hitting it until it releases it's grip from Minseok, charging at him instead. He had no idea what he was going to do. He never thought he'd have two K-9s attacking him so he never learned how to fight them off. He didn't have time to search through the bag for a weapon anyway. He'd have to make do with what he already had, which wasn't much. 

He kicks the second dog in the chest when it tries to jump onto him, falling back into the ice as a result. It's cracking louder than it was before and Jongdae's certainly aware of his situation now. That's when an idea pops into his mind. If he could break the ice, maybe the dogs would drown? Maybe they'd try to get out and forget about him. Land wasn't too far-- he might be able to swim there. He grabs onto the bag tightly, the only thing keeping him from being torn to shreds by the two K-9s. Closing his eyes tightly and letting out a deep breath, Jongdae slams the bag into the layer of ice in it's weakest spot, another screaming leaving him as he, Minseok, and the two dogs plunge into the icy water below. The entire layer of ice over the Han River shattered, making it impossible for the government officials to run up to them now. 

He's holding his breath, his eyes burning and skin screaming from the brutally cold water surrounding him. He looks around wildly, trying to figure out where he was. As predicted, the dogs were somewhere else and had left him alone. He's flailing his arms around wildly as his lungs desperately demand for air. On instinct, Jongdae opens his mouth and inhales a mouthful of water, his body trying to have him cough it out though it only makes him inhale more. The cold from the water was starting to break down his arms and legs, making it harder and harder for him to try and push himself back up to the surface. Cold water was dense and this was no exception. 

It's when his vision starts to fade and his lungs start to scream that he feels a harsh grip on his shoulders, pulling him upwards until he breaks the surface. He immediately begins to choke, spitting out water as something keeps him propped up. He's disoriented from the cold water however and can't think straight. It's not until he's pulled onto land that he realizes where he is and what's happening. "Minseok!" Jongdae cries out, immediately lunging himself at the other and wrapping his arms around his neck tightly. "I thought you left me." He wails into the side of his neck. Minseok's eyebrows furrow slightly when feeling a wetness on his neck before realizing that it was Jongdae crying. 

"Are you alright?" Jongdae pushes away from the question and instead shoves at his chest harshly. 

"Am I okay? Y-You were fucking sh-shot!" His teeth are chattering against each other harshly from how cold he was, his wet clothes sticking greedily to his skin. "You were shot. Holy sh-shit. I thought they killed you. What happened to you? Why did you shut down like Jongin did? How did you come back? Are you like-- are you like the Jesus of robots or something?"

Minseok shoots him a look at this, scoffing loudly in disbelief. "Firstly, that's offensive. And I don't know what happened. Can we talk more about this later when we're inside? You're going to die of hypothermia or something else if we don't find Lay and get you a change of warm clothes." 

"Wait!" Jongdae suddenly shouts, jerking in spot as he shimmies his bag off his back. "Mimi! Oh god, I didn't even think of Mimi. What if I killed her back there? What if they shot at her? What if-- oh god. I can't look. I can't look. I killed my cat." His bag is sitting in his lap, Minseok's somewhere at the bottom of Han River. "Minseok, look for me. Please. I can't do it." He hands his bag to a stunned Minseok. He had completely forgotten about Mimi. Still, he does as he's told and carefully peers into the bag. 

He has to look away as soon as he opens the bag. Maybe Jongdae was right for having him look instead. "She, she uh--" he clears his throat as Jongdae erupts into tears across from him. "I think it was from the shock of the cold water." In reality Mimi had died before Jongdae fell into the water of the Han River. She suffocated. Cats aren't meant to be in bags, but when fleeing and trying to protect them from the toxic chemicals in the air, there aren't many options that someone is left with in terms of transporting animals. Minseok knew this was bound to happen, but he knew Jongdae wouldn't have let him talk him into leaving Mimi back at the apartment. It was an unfortunate outcome. Inevitable, however sad it may be. 

Jongdae's curling into himself, fat and wet warm tears streaming down his cheeks as he wraps his trembling arms around his legs. His forehead is resting against the tops of his knees, a sob racking through his body as he shakes violently. "Jongdae," Minseok's voice is soft as he scurries over to his side, unsure of what to do. He's only had to comfort a crying human a few times before, but the situation had been completely different and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Jongin would have known, probably. 

"Why can't I keep everyone from dying, Minseok?" He says his name, but the question is really meant for himself as he allows the other no time to answer. "If I invited Sehun and Jongin over earlier, maybe we would have heard the Loyalists and we could have escaped. Maybe I should have convinced Jongin the night prior to leave before midnight. We should have taken the risk, even if it meant leaving in a bigger group during the day. Anything would be better than this outcome. And now," his voice hitches as another sob racks through his body, causing Jongdae to choke in the process, "and now I lost Mimi, too. I was supposed to keep her safe and we haven't even left Seoul yet and she's already-- she's already gone. I didn't think about her when I broke the ice. I didn't think how it might affect her. In that moment I completely forgot about her." 

Minseok would rather have Jongdae believe that she died in the water than to let him know that he had been carrying around his dead pet for the last hour and a half. "You can't blame yourself for these things, Jongdae. You did what you had to do to save yourself. In the end, your life is more valuable." He gently rests a reassuring and comforting hand on Jongdae's on two hands. His eyes look over his facial features carefully. He had never seen a human so tormented before. He always thought the civil war in Korea had only been impacting androids. He never thought about how humans might be dragged into all of this. He never looked at them as the victims before. Solely the perpetrators. "You're hurt." He points out when taking in the ripped clothing and blood oozing from Jongdae's open wounds. "We need to get you somewhere safe. If we don't get you somewhere warm soon--" that's when it hits him. 

"Your mask, Jongdae." Jongdae quickly brings a hand up to his face, finger tips dancing over the surface of his wet and cold skin. He must have lost his mask when he was in the water. Maybe when he fell in, maybe when Minseok pulled him out. Minseok pulls his own mask off before handing it to Jongdae. "I don't need mine."

"What if someone sees you without it?" Jongdae hesitates, his hand hovering over the wet mask in his hand. He takes it though, all he needed was one look from Minseok to do what he wanted. 

"We're on the run anyway. Besides, I don't need a mask. I'm an android. You're human. You're health is at risk without one." He gestures for Jongdae to take off his other bag. Jongdae follows as suit, handing it over to the android. He digs around in it for a few seconds, pulling out a thin but otherwise decent scarf. "I can use this in the meantime. I'll have it covering my mouth and nose. It's an attempt at least." Jongdae nods his head slowly at this, watching the other as he puts on the scarf and securely covering the lower half of his face with it. "We need to find Lay." He's on his feet within seconds, bending over and helping Jongdae up. "Before your wounds become infected or you fall ill." 

☽ ☽ ☽

The pair are aimlessly walking down the mostly empty streets while in search of Lay's potential hideout. The contrast between Banpo 3 and Seoul was overwhelming. It was almost deserted; a ghost town, even. There weren't flyers littering the street like they were in Seoul, but other trash littered instead. The air was cold and unforgiving, a harsh breeze moving through the town, some paper and other light trash blowing down the abandoned streets. 

"Do you know where he's staying? Do you know what the building looks like?"

"No," his voice is pained and he's limping, Minseok having a protective arm wrapped around his waist to help him walk. "Sehun never told me what it looked like. All he ever said was that it was a big and old abandoned building." He's growing tired, that much Minseok can tell. He's beyond freezing, his shirt and coat blood soaked from the dog wounds, and he could swear that his lips and fingertips were turning a pale blue. That concerned him. 

"We need to bring you somewhere warm soon. It's dangerous for us to be out here this long-- someone might see us. On top of that you're going to fall ill if we don't get you a warm set of clothes and clean your injuries." Minseok's scanning the area carefully; he couldn't risk missing the hideout of "Lay" or having someone try and attack them. After all, Banpo 3 wasn't actually the safest after the civil war broke out. He felt uneasy just walking down the empty and oddly quiet streets. 

It takes them fifteen minutes before Minseok's scanner catches something, tugging the younger down a back alleyway. "I fail to see how this is safe." Jongdae wheezes, clutching onto Minseok tightly as he guides him down the dark alley. The bricks on the ground are old and loose, crumbling and moving in place when they walk over them. "This is the exact place I would expect to be murdered." 

"I picked up something." He retorts. His eyes are narrowed and he's looking around carefully. He feels safe as he hasn't picked up any potential threats hiding, though he does see something peculiar. There, behind two dumpsters-- one green and one yellow, is a door in the wall. It's out of the way and discreet enough for Minseok to believe that this could lead to Lay's hideout. "I think this may be it. Wait here," he has Jongdae lean against the wall opposite of him, before pushing the dumpsters out of the way. "We should knock. Your friend might be staying here." He forms his hand into a fist, his knuckles tapping loudly against the door. 

"Or we just stumbled upon the hideout of a secret gang who will now murder us in the most brutal way possible." Jongdae remarks in the background. Minseok only rolls his eyes at this. Within a few minutes, right before Minseok's about to turn away and go somewhere else, the door unlocks from the other side and cracks open. An eye is peering from the crack curiously, though caution is still present. 

"Who are you?" The voice is soft, nothing like what Minseok was expecting, not that he really had anything in mind. "What do you want?"

"Are you Lay?" Silence. Minseok's growing impatient. "Are you--"

"Who's asking?" 

"Listen, I'm not here to play games and we don't have all day. If you could just answer--"

"Sehun said you could help us." Jongdae's pushing himself off the bricked wall and limping towards the cracked open door. "Him and Jongin said that you would help anyone who came to you. You're a Red Shirt; you're Lay, aren't you?" The person on the other side seems hesitant, though once noticing the state Jongdae's in he opens the door wider, coming into view. "You're injured. Please, come in." 

Minseok and Jongdae exchange looks with one another, though follow in after the other anyway. "You know Sehun?" He's leading the pair down a dim and narrow hall, Jongdae look around cautiously. "That must mean that you're to be trusted. I assume he wouldn't send a Loyalist to my doorstep." 

"This is your hiding place? Why Banpo 3?" 

"Because it's out of the way and in a deserted town. Not many people live here, and the kind that do don't want anything to do with strangers. Many people don't escape Seoul alive, and since I'm right across the bridge I get plenty of wounded or exhausted androids at my door. It's a convenient place to be located. Just out of the reach of Loyalists and Seoul's corrupted government, but right by the bridge for refugees to flee to." 

"But how can people find you if you're so well hidden?"

"Normally when people come to me they have an idea of where I'm at. Be it a friend told them or I told them myself." At the end of the hall is a metal door, Lay types in a code into the lock before it clicks and opens. "Follow me." He leads them into an open room where couches are placed, a few empty metal barrels with lit fires inside, mattresses placed on the floors with sheets and pillows on them, and a few mats placed on the floor. There were already a few androids seeking refuge, some warming their hands by the fires and others resting on the mattresses. 

"If you sit on the couch, I can fetch first aid and take care of those wounds. Also, please undress yourself and I'll bring you warm clothes. A dimple forms on his right cheek as he smiles before turning slightly. "Junmyeon, dear, can you fetch a fresh pair of clothes? We look to wear the same size." He says after glancing Jongdae over. A man not too far away, Junmyeon, Jongdae assumes, nods his head in response with a soft smile and disappears down another hall. Lay's gone as well within the next few seconds, looking for something to take care of his wounds with.

"What do you think of this place?" Minseok asks as he sits down next to Jongdae on the couch. "Is it what you imagined?" 

"It's better than dying by rabid police dogs." He scoffs, a sigh leaving him as he rests his head on Minseok's shoulder. Minseok stiffens at this, unsure of what to do. He lets Jongdae stay like this, however, if it'll ease the pain he's going through. He hasn't spoken much about the deaths of Sehun and Jongin, though that could be because he hasn't had any proper time to grieve. It might be best to just leave it unspoken. 

"Sorry if I took too long." Lay appears with Junmyeon behind him, handing Jongdae the stack of clothes. "You can change into those first and then I can work on your wounds. Junmyeon, can you make him tea? Jongdae, is it? Do you like tea? Hot chocolate?" Jongdae freezes at this. How did Lay know his name? If he remembers, he didn't introduce himself yet, which was rude of him he'll admit. Did Minseok introduce themselves in the alleyway earlier? Did he introduce himself and he just couldn't remember? "Jongdae?"

"S-Sorry. Tea is fine." He's fiddling with his fingers as Junmyeon hurries out of the room and into the kitchen. Shyly, Jongdae strips out of his wet clothes, Lay turning away and Minseok feeling a heat creep up his cheeks as he quickly looks the other way. In a few minutes Jongdae's dressed in a plain black t-shirt and gray sweatpants, his dirty clothes a heep on the floor. "I'm done now. Thank you."

"I'll wash those clothes for you so you can wear them again later." He pulls up a chair to the couch, sitting in front of Jongdae. "Are these dog bites?" He asks when gently lifting his arm and inspecting the bites closely. "They're deep. You're lucky they aren't infected yet." 

"We were chased by police K-9s when crossing the Han River." Jongdae explains when Lay leans over to pick up the first aid kit. 

"You crossed the river in these weather conditions?" He glances up at the other as he pours alcohol onto a rag. "I'm just surprised they even sent their dogs after you. They didn't walk onto the ice themselves though, right?"

"Of course not. They'd rather their dogs die." Jongdae scoffs. 

"I supposed not anyone is surprised by this. This may hurt a bit, but I'm going to need you to stay still." He wraps one hand around Jongdae's wrist delicately, the other hand pressing the damp cloth onto a deep wound. Jongdae flinches from the stinging sensation, but other than that he's fine. "You're very lucky these haven't become infected. I bet if you had stayed out there for another day they would have." Minseok and Jongdae stay silent, watching Lay clean up each bite wound that he finds. "You know," he exchanges the wrap for bandages, "it's not uncommon for an android and a human to flee together. What does surprise me, though, is that you'd escape with such a high profiled android. That's risky for a human." 

"You know about Minseok?" Jongdae asks and instinctively leans forward. "Has everyone heard about him?"

"Of course I have. I take in androids all day; he's bound to come up in the topic of conversation at least once or twice. And the news," he turns around in his seat and points to the playing television. "But I wouldn't worry, Minseok." He picks up on the android becoming tense. "No one here cares. Nor will they question you about it. You're safe here." He gently pats Jongdae's arm once he finishes bandaging it. "I need to see your other arm now and then the rest of your wounds. I'm sure at least one will need stitches." 

"May I ask how you met?" The box of supplies is idly sitting on Lay's lap, the boy displaying a look of motivation and focus on his face. "Most humans would be scared of you, Minseok." 

"Most humans are scared of all of us." He retorts quickly. Junmyeon comes back into view, carrying a steaming cup of green tea in his hand. "Here, Jongdae." Jongdae cringes at this too; how did they know his name? He was sure he didn't introduce himself. "Thank you." He whispers and reaches out for the tea with his right hand. "Can I ask a question?" He asks once Junmyeon moves and lingers behind Lay. "How did the two of you know my name? I don't remember introducing myself." A wave of embarrassment washes over him at his lack of manners. Maybe it would be considered forgiven in this kind of unique situation.

"Oh." Lay smiles sheepishly while cleaning his arm up. "We're androids as well, so we can scan you to find out everything we need to know. Your name, blood type, date of birth-- you name it and we can see it. Sometimes I forget that it's not always so easy for humans to tell us apart from them. That's usually a good thing, but I don't want to seem rude in this case." His dimple reappears for a guest appearance when he smiles at the other. 

"Wow, I never would have-- I've only met two androids before really. Your personality, well, please don't take this the wrong way, maybe this might be offensive which is not what I'm going for here at all, but you're very--"

Lay lets out a soft laugh from Jongdae's sudden rambling. "I'm a model that's designed to keep humans company. Platonic or sexual, but because of that I have to have an easy going and easy to talk to personality." Jongdae's arm is wrapped within seconds though he's not sure if he should feel more comfortable about an android taking care of his wounds. He assumes he should be, after all they're more accurate and would know for sure if he needs stitches or has an infection, something a human might miss the first time around. 

"What about him?" Jongdae gestures towards Junmyeon. "Is he an android too?"

"He is, though his model was designed to take care of other needs a human might have. Cooking, cleaning, tending the garden. He is the sweetest and most helpful person I've met yet." Junmyeon gushes at this, his cheeks producing a soft pinkish hue. Jongdae didn't know that androids could blush. He found it endearing. Lay's smiling ear to ear at this, having Jongdae lift his shirt slightly so he can inspect his other wounds. "Before Junmyeon came along I was having a hard time doing everything myself. He came in with a group of androids, but he decided to stay with me instead. He could have gone to Busan with them, but he stayed." His voice is soft as he speaks, adoration present in his tone. "It's nice. Not many people want to stay here, you know? It's a good stop, but Banpo 3 isn't where you want to live right now. Junmyeon's made it so much easier to help out everyone. Especially as things only become more tense in Seoul and we get more and more refugees with each passing day. I'd lose my mind without him." 

Jongdae thinks his heart is melting. This was all too cute for him. "Ah, just as I thought." He tsks quietly when inspecting a bite on his side. "This one will need stitches." 

"Wait what?" Jongdae suddenly jerks away. "That won't be necessary. I'm feeling so much better already." He shakes his head quickly, though Lay stubbornly sits him back down when he stands. 

"It will become infected if I don't. I can numb you so you won't feel anything, Jongdae but you need to let me do this." Jongdae was never a fan of needles, they were something that always scared him. He didn't want stitches, but he also thought it would be a little ridiculous to die of an infected dog bite. 

"It'll be okay, Jongdae." This time it's Minseok who speaks, leaning back into the couch as he looks at the other. "I'll be here. You can squeeze my hand if you want." He offers up his left hand, Jongdae hesitating briefly before grabbing hold of it tightly. "Okay." He meekly mumbles, eyes squeezing shut when feeling Lay place his hand over the wound. 

"I'm expelling a numbing agent. It'll numb the surrounding skin so this will be relatively painless for you." He pauses slightly when seeing the anxious look on his face. "I never liked stitches either, you know. They hurt androids too." His fingers are intertwined with Minseok's, his heart racing in his chest when Lay pulls his hand away after a minute. He liked to think that his heart was racing only for the fact that he was about to receive stitches. "I'm going to start now, okay? Junmyeon, can you get him some water. He's looking pale." 

"Of course." He's gone within seconds again and Jongdae thinks he might actually hurl when seeing Lay pull out thread and a needle. "I can give you a pretty color if you want." Minseok snorts quietly from Lay's suggestion. "I have blue, purple, pink, red-"

"Black is fine." He wheezes out. He was already feeling lightheaded. His eyes are squeezed shut again, though after a minute he cautiously opens an eye when not feeling anything. "Have we started?" He asks in a shaky whisper. 

"We have." Lay confirms just as Junmyeon hands Jongdae a glass of water. "And we should be done in just a minute. It didn't require too many stitches. You're lucky." He lets out a sigh of relief when realizing that Lay was telling the truth in saying that he wouldn't feel anything. "There, all done." He says as he pulls away once finishing up the last stitch. He backs away slightly, doing one last scan over of Jongdae to make sure he didn't miss any bites or open wounds. Once he confirms that Jongdae's okay he closes up the box of supplies. "You should stay the night." He advises as he gets up. "Banpo 3 can be quite dangerous during the nightfall. You're better leaving in the morning. Besides, the two of you both look exhausted and should rest. Minseok," Lay tilts his head as he looks over the other android. "Would you like a change of clothes as well? I know your body temperature doesn't change but wet clothes can be rather uncomfortable." 

"Please." Minseok feels like he can't breathe, but it has something more to do with the fact that Jongdae's still holding onto his hand. 

"Just make yourself comfortable in the mean time. I have more mattresses in the back with blankets that I can bring out here once the two of you want to sleep." He bows slightly before leaving the room with Junmyeon. Jongdae sleepily rests his head on Minseok's shoulder, an exhausted sigh leaving his chapped and dry lips. 

"Minseok?" His voice is soft and he sounds to be only a few minutes away from falling asleep. 

Minseok only hums in response, a feeling inside him that's similar to a heart fluttering. 

"Once we get to Busan," he swallows thickly when thinking over how to word his thoughts, "please don't leave me. You're all I have left." It was a fact that Jongdae became more honest when he was tired and this was no exception. He might regret his words in the morning, but as of now he couldn't be bothered. He was severely aware of his situation now, severely aware that Sehun and Jongin wouldn't be joining them in Busan and even aware that he no longer had a pet to calm him. It was truly only him and Minseok and he'd cling onto that for as long as he could. "Please don't leave me." 

☽ ☽ ☽

_A/N: it's so hard to keep typing Lay when I want to call him Yixing, but alas, he's an android named Lay in this sO lmao_

_also, i'm not korean and i've never been to korea. i did research when looking up cities and towns that are next to seoul and the banpo districts were something that interested me and banpo 3 was the closest to the bridge they were crossing. my descriptions will not be 100% accurate so i'm sorry about that ahaaaa also is it called banpo 3? because i'll feel a little silly if i'm calling it the wrong thing rip but i'm a dunce so what do you expect_


	5. I hear you in the wind chimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of past abuse.

Within the next two hours, Minseok is changed into warmer clothes and the pair have moved to a set of mattresses on the floor. Lay's been checking up on them every forty minutes before retiring for the night. It's quiet, only the sound of people softly speaking in the background and the sound of the rain pelting the roof above them. Jongdae's wrapped in three blankets, resembling more of a burrito than a human, at least according to Minseok anyway. Minseok isn't cold, but he's wrapped up in a blanket as well. 

"Minseok," Jongdae's voice is barely that above of a whisper, the boy lying down and staring at the man on the mattress beside him. "It should be easy to get to Busan from this point on, don't you think?" 

"It's possible." They still had a long walk to Busan unless they could find some means of transportation. They asked Lay earlier, but he didn't have a car to spare. He did, however, inform them of a bus station that they could get to that was only a twenty minute walk from where they were staying. It was the Express Bus Terminal, but it could only go to the border of Seoul. Once off the first bus, they would ride to Daejeon, then to Daegu, and then the bus would make a final stop at Miryang. Anything past that was too dangerous for the buses to drive through as Busan is in between Gimhae and Yangsan, two places that were filled with Loyalists as well. Both places were also known for attacking and raiding buses that tried to go to Busan. 

Since they were still inside Seoul, just not the heart of it, they weren't safe until they were out completely. While Banpo 3 is deserted for the most part, that doesn't mean that other towns they'll have to cross through are the same. Seoul was practically infested with Loyalists and Minseok knew it wouldn't be easy to avoid them all. "We'll at least have a better chance once we get on a bus." Jongdae wanted to be optimistic about this whole thing. He didn't want to admit that they were basically fucked. "Miryang is only thirty-five minutes from Busan by car. That's a lot nicer than our walk to Busan from here. We might only have to walk for an hour, or hour and a half." 

"I suppose you're right." Is all the other offers in response.

"Minseok, can I ask you a personal question?" Jongdae doesn't know if he's walking on thin ice by asking this, but there were just some things about the other that he really wanted to know. The android looks skeptical, but nods his head regardless. "What did you do before the civil war broke out?" He was genuinely curious to know. It was hard to read someone like Minseok ~~\--~~ did he do normal things like Jongdae? Did he have a job? Go to college? Have a partner? He cringes at that last part, though he wasn't sure why that bothered him the way it did. 

"What did I do?" He's taken slightly aback by the question, pursing his lips slightly. He didn't expect him to ask a question like that, but at least he wasn't asking him if he was a murderer again. It was an innocent enough question. "I belonged to a family." He answers simply. Jongdae waits for more, though that's all Minseok's apparently willing to give him. 

"And?" 

"And what?" He comes across as defensive and there's a small frown working it's way on Jongdae's lips. 

"Tell me more about it." He whines softly. He knows next to nothing about the person he'd be running away with. He thought it was harmless to want to get to know him just a little bit better. "Will it make you more comfortable if I tell you what I was doing before the civil war broke out?" Jongdae asks as he sits up on his mattress, pulling his thick layer of blankets with him as to remain in the blanket-made burrito to keep him warm. 

"Not really." He deadpans.

"Great!" He claps his hands together enthusiastically and Minseok's starting to wonder if he developed brain damage from the water in the Han River.

He does a quick scan just to be sure.

"I had a job where I taught at a daycare. Of course once the war broke out schools in Seoul started closing. One of the teachers next door was an android and so was our founder of the daycare. Safe to say ours was the very first daycare they made sure closed down."

"You taught children? People trusted you to teach children? And to take care of children? Small children ~~\--~~ just to be sure." Jongdae narrows his eyes at this and frees an arm from his blanket cocoon just to smack Minseok's arm. "Yes, I taught and watched children." He huffs quietly. "And it was a really nice job. It was a little weird at times because of couples who would adopt android children and send them off to my daycare. They never quite acted the same as human children so sometimes I wouldn't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" Minseok asks with a tilt of his head. He was interested in the things Jongdae had to say. He liked hearing about the normalcy that he never had the privilege to experience. 

"One time I had a little boy cut his arm and he started to bleed, but instead of his blood being red it came out green. So the other children made fun of him and the child who was an android never understood why. They would tease him by calling him an alien among other things. Even at such young ages I was having to explain these complicated and complex concepts." He sighs as he lies back down and rolling on to his back. "I was relieved when we were shut down, if I'm being honest with you." Minseok raises an eyebrow at this. It's hard to imagine anyone being happy about losing their job, especially if it's their only source of income. "By the time we were shut down, the civil war was about a month away from starting and it was becoming harder and harder to explain these situations to children. They'd ask so many questions and they'd come to class with the beliefs their parents had. The children who were androids were pulled out before we closed down anyway. It wasn't safe for them. Crazy, isn't it? Children can be taught to hate at such a young age. And for what? Because someone bleeds green?" 

Minseok frowns slightly at this. He felt bad for the children involved in this the most. They're so naive and innocent; they can't form their own opinions. How is this fair on them? They only pick up what they're being taught. "Other than that I just stayed at home and hung out with Sehun and Jongin. We'd eat take out every Friday night, and on every Tuesday night I'd cook us dinner. On Mondays he brought me dinner. He said he cooked it but I'm pretty sure it was secretly Jongin who did all the cooking." He puffs air into his cheeks as he stares above at the ceiling. There was a leak from the rain at the end of the room. Lay placed a bucket underneath for it to catch the droplets of water. "What about you? It's your turn to spill." He didn't want to think about Sehun or Jongin. He didn't want to let his mind drift. He didn't have time to grieve over the loss of his only friends. Another time he would be able to, but not now.

"My model is similar to Junmyeon's but a little more than that. I'm meant to do all household chores, indoor or outdoor. I can be used for platonic or sexual relationships too, like Lay. I was bought as a Christmas present for a child; a small girl. Wasn't older than six, her name was Junhee." He plays with a loose thread on his blanket as he speaks. "I did the chores too, but I was also meant as a playmate and companion for their daughter. She was sick a lot, so she wasn't outdoors much and public schooling was out of the question. She was homeschooled and because the parents were always exhausted from taking care of her and hospital visits they rarely had time to clean the house." 

"Were they nice?" Jongdae asks softly. It was the tone he was using and the expression on his face that was concerning Jongdae. 

"Junhee was lovely. She was so creative and always wanting to play. She even tried to help me out a few times with the chores. The chores weren't anything that I couldn't handle. I'm built for that kind of stuff after all. Her father though," he lets out a long sigh. A trip down memory lane that he never asked for nor wanted. "He didn't like androids. Hell, he barely liked humans. And the bills from Junhee's medical expenses and their own bills on top of that were too expensive to afford. His wife bought me as a surprise and my first experience, the first time I was activated, I saw him beating her in the living room. I knew from the start that this would be a typical 'husband beats wife' situation. But then I saw Junhee sitting on the stairs watching and I just, things were difficult." 

Jongdae frowns at this, his heart tugging in his chest. "That's so sad, Minseok." He says softly. "That's your first memory?"

"Well, besides leaving my store." He only frowns more at this, but before Jongdae can speak any further Minseok continues. "Junhee didn't speak about it but I know that she understood what was happening. As she got sicker, things just seemed to escalate more and more before they were to the point where they couldn't be fixed."

"What happened? You got away from them somehow." He moves closer as if pulled in by Minseok's story. 

Minseok hesitates, conflicted on if he should share the outcome with Jongdae or not. He didn't think he'd be judged by the other, after all he did let him stay in his home after seeing his face plastered all over the news. "Well, one night things escalated more than they normally did. The day started off how it always did. He'd yell at his wife about something trivial and would work himself up into a raging fit. Junhee would run from the dining table to her room. I'd stand in the corner of the dining room watching. I only got involved a few times. Human issues...it's not my business. I only ever made sure Junhee wasn't dragged into their mess. Maybe I'm a bad person for not helping the wife often." A heavy sigh leaves him as he recalls the night that everything took place. "I knew it was going to be a rough day when Junhee's mother instructed that I bring Junhee to bed. It was only four in the afternoon." He isn't sure if he should disclose anything else about the situation. "He wouldn't let me take Junhee to her bedroom though. I'm wired to obey commands so my system was starting to get overwhelmed when both her mother and father were telling me opposite commands.

"Everything...everything happened so quickly. Her father went back into the kitchen to continue drinking and that's when her mother had me quickly bring Junhee upstairs. I didn't think I was disobeying as I was following her orders and brought Junhee upstairs. By the time I had her tucked into bed I could hear screaming. I..." His face twists into an expression Jongdae hasn't seen on the other before, scooting closer as he becomes increasingly worried. "I don't think it would be wise to share anything else with you regarding the situation." Minseok didn't want to relive it; it was too painful, even for an android. He feels as if he's mostly to blame for the incident and he didn't want to have Jongdae think poorly of him. He didn't need his approval or anything of the sort, but having the idea of Jongdae looking down on him made him uncomfortable for reasons unknown to him. 

"That's okay, Minseok." But Jongdae's surprisingly accepting and doesn't pressure him or push the topic any further. He's one of the few humans that isn't nosy, something that impressed the android. There's a silence between the two, though one that's not particularly unpleasant or awkward. It was a comfortable silence, one that didn't make Minseok or Jongdae feel out of place or fear that a line had been crossed. "I think we should go to bed now. We have a long day ahead tomorrow and we need to leave early in the morning if we want to make use of our day." There's a small smile on his lips as he speaks though Minseok notes the worry in his voice. 

He nods his head in agreement, moving slightly so that he was now lying down on his back. "See you in the morning?" Jongdae whispers as he pulls the sheets over him, turning on his side to look at the other. Minseok turns on his side as well, smiling slightly as he faces him.

"See you in the morning." 

☽ ☽ ☽

The grassy field is blowing harshly from the wind, the strands of grass bending in the direction the wind was blowing. Wind chimes could be heard in the distance and it sounded like music to Jongdae's ears. The sun above him was glaring down at him, though the warmth only kissed the surface of his skin gently. The mop of hair on his head blew freely, the rush of cool wind making him feel at home along with a sense of freedom that he thought he had lost long ago. 

He was sitting on a red picnic blanket in the middle of the field, a woven basket placed in front of him. Across from him was Minseok, neither man sporting a mask. The weather was clear, each boy able to look up and see the clouds in the blue sky, neither worrying about the possible chemicals in the air. It was nice out, the kind of nice that existed before the civil war broke out. Jongdae's only able to focus on Minseok, everything else surrounding them beginning to blur. 

"I brought sandwiches; some fruits." Minseok comments as he nudges at the basket in front of him. Jongdae looks at him closely. He looks the same. Was Minseok still an android? His voice seems to be far away, as if it's not coming from the body sitting just across from him. He looks back up to the sky, taking in the view before looking down at the grass they were sitting on. He runs his fingers through the strands of grass, feeling more silky and soft than any other grass he's ever touched. The wind chimes become louder in the background, but it's still soothing to the man. 

"It's nice, isn't it?" It's Minseok again in the same voice as before. He glances up at the other, eyebrows furrowed with a small frown plastered on his face. Did his lips even move when he spoke? 

"I'm glad you're here with me." Minseok's voice registers in his ears, but yet he doesn't seem to open his mouth as he speaks. This caused a feeling of uneasiness deep inside him, one that he couldn't ignore.

"Where are we?" The background was still serene, Jongdae very much enjoying the way the sun was bathing him in light and the way the cool breeze felt against his skin. He didn't recognize where they were. "Minseok." The man is still quiet as the wind moves against his body as well before a warm smile creeps on to his face. Jongdae's cheeks grow warm at this before he averts his gaze elsewhere, perhaps on the tree behind Minseok. 

"You worry too much." This time his lips move as he speaks, the man rummaging through the basket in front of them. "You should enjoy the one day you're able to do this. It isn't often you get to sit out, right? And have a picnic nonetheless." He pulls out a sandwich and hands it to him, pulling out a water bottle as well and tossing it over." He eyes the food in his hand carefully, though ends up unwrapping it and taking a bite of the sandwich anyway. It's been a while since had a sandwich, as simple as it was. When Sehun and Jongin came over they normally only ate Chinese takeout or another form of takeout, but not usually a sandwich. It was nice to change things up. Then again, Minseok wasn't like Sehun and Jongin. Maybe sandwiches were his version of Chinese takeout. That didn't make sense.

It's shocking, Jongdae thinks, when he sees Minseok pull out his own sandwich and take a bite out of it. He knew Minseok could taste food, but he still didn't normally eat. Hot chocolate was his exception. He watches in stunned silence as Minseok pulls out a perfectly filled mug of hot chocolate from the basket. How did that not spill? "Is this a dream?" Jongdae suddenly asks.

Minseok only glances up at the male as he takes a long sip from his mug of hot chocolate. "Maybe. Does it matter?"

"I would think that it does." Jongdae hastily moves off the blanket, checking underneath it before looking inside the basket as well. 

"What are you doing?" Minseok asks with an unamused voice. "You look like an idiot." Jongdae's eye twitches in annoyance. How could the other still annoy him in a dream?

"I'm looking for signs that will show me I'm dreaming. It's not possible to be doing this right now unless we're both hallucinating. Which," he speaks up before Minseok can say something snarky, "isn't likely." Minseok pouts at this though goes back to taking another sip of his hot beverage. 

"They say you can tell if you're dreaming if you look at your hands." He waves his fingers around when Jongdae glances up at him from his spot of searching. "You'll have four fingers. Last time I checked, you have five on each hand." Jongdae pauses at this before Minseok speaks up again. "Or maybe it's that you have six fingers instead of five? Well, all I know is that you have the wrong amount of fingers. I heard it changes with lucid dreams. Maybe you'll have eight fingers on each hand. That would be a little gross, wouldn't it? Either way I think that could be a good indicator." Sure enough, as Jongdae looks down he sees four fingers on each hand, a look of disgust forming on his features. 

"I guess it's a dream then." Minseok's voice rings in his ears as Jongdae looks back up at him. 

"Why am I dreaming this?" He suddenly asks as he moves to sit back on the blanket. 

"How should I know? Shouldn't I be asking why you're dreaming of me? Are you some kind of...  _pervert?_ " 

"How can you even be so self aware in my own dream?" Jongdae asks in an exaggerated tone. 

"I don't know, you should be asking yourself that." Once again Jongdae's eye is twitching in annoyance. "Maybe it's your way of coping." He says after a moment of silence passes between the pair. "Have things been stressful outside of your dream?"

"Of course they have, what do you even mean by that?"

"Jongdae, I only exist in your dream right now. I'm simply made up by your brain. How should I know what's going on outside of your head? All I know is that I'm clearly based off someone you know." 

Jongdae feels like slamming his head into a wall as he stares down at the untouched sandwich in his hands. Wait, hadn't he already taken a bite out of it? "Things have been...stressful." He supposes that's a way of putting things lightly. He looks up overhead when hearing a plane fly over them, a white stream forming in the skies yet Jongdae can't find the plane. "My two friends died, I left my home, my pet died, and I'm stuck in a place I don't know with an android I don't really know. Spoiler, but that android is you." He gestures over the other with his hand lazily. 

"Point taken." He mutters before taking another sip of his hot chocolate. "Maybe having a picnic during a day of nice weather is just how you cope. Everyone has their own vices." 

"This vice is a little impossible at the moment though."

"And maybe that's why you're dreaming of it. Humans cope in mysterious ways, sometimes they don't all make sense. They don't always have to make sense. And even if it is a dream, which it is, do you really want to wake up if this is your way of coping? Do you really want to be ripped away and thrown back into whatever reality you're facing out there? This seems a lot better in my opinion." 

"I don't think that this is a strange way to cope." Jongdae says after a moment. "It's normal to dream of things that you can't have." He says as he gestures to the scene around them. "I just don't...I just don't understand why you're here. Sehun or Jongin should be here." The breeze picks up again, tuffs of Jongdae's moving from the wind. "It just seems weird to me."

"Well," Minseok places his mug down in the grass, "maybe I'm part of the way you cope." He shrugs slightly as he looks the other over. "I must be here for a reason, right? Maybe you feel more comfortable around me than you're willing to admit." 

 

Jongdae gasps loudly as he sits up in his sleeping bag, eyes wide as he looks around quickly. He was inside, still at Lay's hideout. He wasn't sure what he should have been expecting; he knew he was dreaming. It wouldn't have been possible to be outside anyway, not without a mask. It wasn't possible to see a blue sky with clouds either. Maybe green with some gray or red clouds. 

He buries his face in his hands as he inhales a deep breath, exhaling after a few seconds. He looks over to his side, Minseok staring at him with an unwavering gaze. "Have you just been staring at me the entire night?" He asks as he pulls a face at this.

"I don't sleep, what are you expecting from me?" The other whispers with a blank expression. "And I wasn't staring at you the entire night. Sorry for looking in your direction when you suddenly jolt up from the spot you were sleeping in." 

"Yeah, whatever." He mutters as he moves to lie back down, eyes staring up at the old and cracked ceiling above them. 

"Bad dream?" Minseok asks after a second passes them.

"The opposite, actually. It was a little weird though." He mumbles before sighing softly. "But I shouldn't focus too much on that. We, uh, _I_ need to get more rest so that I won't be a burden tomorrow and make us go slower. " He huffs quietly before turning on his side so that he was facing the other man. "Can you, like, try to get some sleep? It's a little unnerving to imagine you just lying down with your eyes open all night."

"Closing my eyes won't make a difference." He scoffs quietly though rolls his eyes when Jongdae continues to stare him down. "Alright, fine. If it makes you sleep better than I will." Jongdae smiles at this before turning on his other side, a sigh leaving his lips as he lets himself drift back to sleep once becoming comfortable. Tomorrow would be a long day.

☽ ☽ ☽

_A/N: Sorry for how long this update took!!_

_also friendly reminder i still know jack shit about korea so the mapping out probably won't be as accurate despite putting in research orz_


	6. Calm after the storm

Jongdae wakes up with wet cheeks, his hand slowly coming up and feeling around his face. "Why is my face wet?" He asks himself as he pushes himself to sit up, flinching slightly due to the stinging of his wounds. 

"You were crying." Minseok responds casually, startling Jongdae in result. "You need to stop jumping. How many times have I told you that I cannot sleep?"

"I was crying? I must have had another dream." He attempts to wipe away the wetness from his cheeks, glancing shyly to the other on his right. "Was I loud?"

"No." Minseok was lying. He didn't see any good by embarrassing Jongdae and telling him that his sobbing was quite loud. Whether or not Jongdae was actually asleep was up for debate. His crying was a little too intense to be that of someone who was asleep, but then again humans were complicated. But if it made Jongdae feel better, at least somewhat okay throughout all of this, he would lie and say no.

"What time is it?" Jongdae asks as he pushes the sleeping bag off him, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes once he wiped his cheeks dry. 

"It's four in the morning." Minseok responds while watching Jongdae try and get off his mattress. "Where are you going?" 

"We should get ready to head out." Jongdae responds before crouching down and wrapping up his sleeping bag. "I'll return these, or should I ask Lay if we can keep them? If something happens we might need to camp out somewhere. These could come in handy." Minseok didn't like the idea of having to camp out somewhere at night under these circumstances. 

"It's a little early to start heading out. It's still dark." Minseok comments while watching Jongdae. "Lay said we shouldn't leave until the sun comes back up. Loyalists are crawling around at this time, and the gangs are active at this time as well. We need to wait at least until another two hours before it gets light out." He watches as Jongdae continues to roll up the sleeping bag wordlessly, a sigh leaving Minseok. "I know you're anxious to arrive to Busan, but leaving before we're ready will do us no good." 

"If we keep sitting here, don't you think someone might find us?"

"The police didn't know who we were when we crossed the river. They think we were just random defectors." Minseok explains softly. "Sehun told you about Lay before, right? He had connections with Jongin, so I'm sure if they could trust Lay then we can too. Lay has never had his hideout raided before, it's very out of the way and well hidden. I barely picked it up when scanning earlier. We would only be foolish to leave now, especially when Lay advised us not to until much later." Jongdae hates when Minseok becomes logical. He was always logical, but he hated it especially right now. 

"I suppose." Is all he offers in response. He rolls the sleeping bag back out and slowly sits down on it, legs crossed as he stares at Minseok. "Well now what? I'm not tired anymore. I've gotten enough sleep." He's playing with his fingers in his lap and Minseok can see just how dark the bags under Jongdae's eyes truly are. He's pale, too, looking a little ill. He was probably just now feeling the weight of the situation, and now that it's been several hours, he was probably becoming more and more aware over Sehun and Jongin's deaths. He was holding up better than he expected, but that wasn't always a good thing. He probably wasn't dealing with his emotions properly, which could prove to be a problem later. 

"What was your favorite part about living in Seoul before everything went to shit?" He decided to try and keep Jongdae's mind off things. He felt odd, guilty almost, for the situation Jongdae was in. He wasn't all too aquatinted with this feeling and he wasn't sure what to do with it. Maybe he could distract himself with this too. 

"Before everything went bad?" Jongdae repeats to himself, looking a little off guard by the sudden question. He's in deep thought as he takes in his bottom lip between his teeth. "I guess being able to go outside and seeing the actual sky. I miss the shades of blues blending in together on a sunny afternoon, and I miss cloudy days too. I miss the sunsets as well. They were always so pretty. You also had a higher chance of seeing stars out at night then you do now." Minseok nods along to this, thinking back to how things used to be. He never paid much attention to the sunsets, but on some nights he would take the young girl he used to care for and watch stars with her. There wasn't always many stars to look at, but the child had a vivid imagine and only ever needed a few stars in the sky to make up a story for the two. "I also miss being able to walk outside, any time during the day, and feel relatively safe. No Loyalists this, Red Shirts that. Everyone for the most part got along or just ignored each other's presence."

"I miss that too." While Minseok wasn't always accustomed to nice things, he did miss the rest of the world trying not to kill him. It was much easier just to put up with the household he was stuck with, not the whole world. At least he had Jongdae to help him. 

The two boys look up when they hear footsteps approaching them. It was Lay, the android carrying two mugs of hot chocolate. "Junmyeon managed to find something other than tea or water. He told me that the two of you might prefer this instead." Jongdae watches as Minseok beams at the hot chocolate, eagerly taking it from Lay after thanking the man. Jongdae smiles to himself when seeing Minseok take a sip from his hot drink, wiggling in his seat afterwards. Minseok and hot chocolate was one of the few endearing sights Jongdae had seen the last few days. 

"You're up early." Jongdae beats Lay to it, Lay scrunching his nose as joins the pair on the floor. 

"I was about to say that. I hope you don't plan on leaving right now." He has concern on his face as he speaks, glancing between the two men.

"Minseok already talked me out of it." Jongdae waves his hand around before taking a sip out of his drink. "So, we're waiting until sunrise. You still don't have a car or anything we can use to get to the train station?" 

Jongdae watches as Lay ponders over Jongdae's question, eyebrows drawn forward as he thinks over his options. "We don't have any to spare," Jongdae's hope immediately fades when Lay speaks, "but Junmyeon and I can drive you there. Save you some time on walking at least. I'm not a fan of driving in the day time, gangs like to ambush cars and steal the spare parts. They have a black market where they sell them for money. They also like to rob the people in the cars." He sighs as he hunches over, resting his chin on his hand that's being propped up by his knee. "But the station isn't too far away by car, I think it's only five minutes. Not really enough time to get into any trouble." 

"We can walk if it'll be too much trouble. We don't want to make you a target." Minseok speaks up. "And don't you need to stay back and watch things? Is it really okay if both you and Junmyeon come with us?"

"We'll be coming right back. But I'll run it by him first and see what he wants to do, if he wants to hang back or come with us." Lay puffs air into his cheeks. He didn't like traveling outside of the hideout, but sometimes it couldn't be avoided. "I do it when I need to, and you're a friend of Sehun's. Anything for him." He falters slightly, raising an eyebrow as if just now realizing that Sehun was not with them. "Where is he, anyway? You said you were close, so I assumed he'd travel with you." 

There's an awkward silence that now hangs in the air, Jongdae staring down at the mug that rests in his hands. He didn't feel like talking anymore. 

"They were caught by loyalists." Minseok answers for Jongdae. "Him and Jongin both. Unfortunately, it's not something that the two of them made it out of." Minseok glances over to Jongdae before examining Lay for any kind of reaction. He wasn't expecting much, androids weren't exactly great when it came to emotions. Still though, he knew Lay was programed to be more human than he was himself. He watches as Lay sits quietly, nodding his head slowly as he processes the information. 

"That's sad. Sehun was a kind boy." Jongdae chokes up at Lay's words. "Sometimes I think loyalists are more cold than androids; their actions surely prove it." Minseok moves so that he's sitting closer to Jongdae, hesitating before gently patting the man's back. "Well, Jongin is gone too, right? Maybe they can finally be together now, where ever that may be. Sometimes I wonder if it's really better to stay alive during these times." Lay wasn't really helping the situation, it was only making Jongdae more upset. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. How could an android know what to say in a moment like this?

"He was going to come with us to Busan. Him and Jongin both, but the morning we were going to leave they broke into his apartment. I think someone reported him for hiding Jongin." Jongdae explains softly, his voice cracking as he explains. "I didn't see what happened, Minseok wouldn't let me, but I still heard it. I heard all of it." He starts to curl in on himself, Minseok gently taking the mug from Jongdae's hands so he doesn't spill it on himself and placing it on the floor beside him. 

"It's okay." Minseok whispers gently, unsure of what exactly he was even doing. He pulls Jongdae closer, rubbing his back as soothingly as he could as Jongdae moves closer and clings onto him. He grips onto Minseok's shirt, burying his face in the soft fabric as he breathes in the others scent. Jongdae tries to calm himself down, to silence the voices in his head as the sounds of Sehun and Jongin's demise keep replaying in his head like a broken record, the images of their bodies displayed in his thoughts as detailed as possible. 

"You poor thing." He can hear Lay say gently from behind him. Lay leans forward to rest a comforting hand on his back, though Minseok only pulls Jongdae closer to him. Lay pauses at this, though he understands. He's the same way with Junmyeon. "Well, I'll find Junmyeon and ask him for his opinion." His voice is light and soft as he pushes himself up. "I'll leave you two be." 

Minseok's wiping the tears that are rolling down Jongdae's cheeks. He wished he was able to keep Jongdae from hearing things that day, but there wasn't a way he could do that without hurting the man. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop them." Why is Minseok sorry? It's not like it was his fault, or was it? Did he think it was his fault? His eyebrows furrow as his mind begins to fill with thoughts, thoughts he didn't have control over. He didn't like it. 

"It's not your fault," the thoughts in Minseok's head go quiet, "they would have just killed you too. You're an android, but you aren't superhuman. There was what, four of them? That wouldn't have been a fair fight." Jongdae mumbles quietly as Minseok continues to cradle his face in his hands, thumbs gently stroking away the tears. 

"I could have snuck up on them. Then it would have been three against four. Maybe Sehun wouldn't have been able to do much, but Jongin and I ~~\--~~ I think we could have, maybe..." His voice trails off as his mind begins to run through the endless scenarios of him and Jongin taking on the rest of the men. It wasn't too bad, the odds were for them, if they managed to do it right. He should have done something instead of forcing Jongdae to hide. Maybe then they'd have another two bodies sitting with them.

"There's no point in trying to think about the what ifs. It won't make a difference now." His voice is broken as he speaks, leaning against Minseok's touch. "Besides, you could have gotten yourself killed too and then it would just be me. I can't do this by myself. I need you." His hands wrap around Minseok's wrists, eyes fluttering shut as Minseok continues to stroke his cheeks. Minseok feels a warmth in his chest and he doesn't know how to describe it. It's different from anything he's felt before. He felt something similar when he was around the girl he'd take care of, but it was different. This was different. 

"Can we go back to sleeping? Even if it's just for two hours?" Minseok doesn't argue with Jongdae, he only nods his head before pulling away from him and adjusting the sleeping bag before going to his own and lying back down. Jongdae doesn't go back to his own sleeping bag however, but he goes to Minseok's. He lies down next to him, moving forward and burying his face in his chest. Minseok grows still at this, not sure what to do or how to react, or even where to put his hands. "Is this okay?" He hears Jongdae whisper into his shirt before he looks up slightly, their eyes locking onto each other and Minseok swears he feels his breath hitch, which doesn't really make much sense to him at all when he thinks about it. 

"Will it make you feel better?" He finds himself asking. "Then it's okay." He responds when Jongdae nods his head. "It's okay." He repeats again, though this time it's directed at himself as he awkwardly and slowly wraps his arms around Jongdae. "I'll keep you warm until you wake up." His body was heating up in an attempt to keep Jongdae warm, the android watching as Jongdae's breathing becomes shallow as he eventually stills in his hold, signaling to the other that he was now asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: look who's finally back LOL
> 
> sorry i was gone so long. last semester was super crazy.


	7. Infiltration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It gets a little graphic this chapter. There will be some violence and blood in case that's something you aren't comfortable with. 

It's seven in the morning and Lay's helping Jongdae and Minseok to the car, Junmyeon trailing not too far behind. Minseok slows his pace so that he falls beside Junmyeon, looking over at the other as Lay and Jongdae stay in front of them. "Are you sure it's okay that you're coming with us? You don't need to stay behind with the hideout?" The car was out of the way, Lay had made sure that it wasn't near the hideout so that if a gang stumbled upon it, their safe space for refugees wouldn't be put at risk. It was a good fifteen minute walk from Lay's hideout, but Minseok didn't mind.

"It's only for twenty minutes at the most." Junmyeon tries to ease Minseok's concerns. "We're just dropping you off at the station, unless it seems too risky, then Lay might suggest that we drop you off somewhere near the station. But hopefully it's easier than expected." He flashes a smile at the android, Minseok forcing a smile as well. The pair stop when they get to the car, Lay unlocking the doors before having Jongdae get into the back. He gets into the driver's seat with Junmyeon following into the passenger's seat, and Minseok taking the empty seat next to Jongdae. 

The car's old, looks like it only has a year at most before it finally breaks down or stalls out. The red paint on the exterior of the car was rusting and starting to chip off, leaving parts of the surface without paint. It looked like a car that would breathe out exhaust whenever turned on. 

"This won't take long." Lay's voice breaks the silence as the car starts up. The car backs out of its spot and goes in the direction of the train station. The drive is relatively quiet, mostly spent with Jongdae staring out the window as his foot bounces on the floor of the car nervously. It was uneventful, which was a good thing, but he couldn't help but think that it was a little _too_ easy for them. The car eventually rolls to a stop, Lay putting the car in park and turning around to look at the pair in the backseat. "We're here. Uneventful, right? That's a good thing. Gang activity seems to be dead at this time of day." He comments while Minseok unbuckles himself, helping Jongdae afterwards with his own seatbelt. 

"We should get out." He whispers to Jongdae when noticing the other was sitting still in his seat. Jongdae only nods, but he couldn't ignore the feeling of dread growing inside of him. Something seemed way too easy, way too painless, for them to have arrived to the station so suddenly. 

"You guys have money? Trains don't take tickets anymore, but they take money. I think it's only a few quarters; prices have gone down." Junmyeon advises from his seat. "If you don't have any, I'm sure we can find some laying around in here."

"I made sure we had money earlier." Minseok responds. "Thank you, though." The doors are opening, Minseok and Jongdae climbing out of their respective sides. Jongdae walks to the back, popping the trunk of the car open and grabbing a bag of supplies Lay prepared for them, tossing one to Minseok as well. 

"Thank you for everything." Jongdae finds himself bowing when the two make their way back around to the front of the car, Lay smiling from his spot behind the wheel. "We couldn't have made it this far without you." He meant that, he was sure he would have died from his wounds had they not found Lay in time. 

"Good luck," Lay calls out as he starts the car back up, "I hope to meet again one day. Maybe when everything dies down Junmyeon and I can meet you in Busan. We can exchange stories of our survival." Jongdae can't help but snort at this. Lay really had an odd way of trying to be sentimental. Jongdae and Minseok wave the two off before the car turns around, heading back towards the hideout. 

"Hopefully the rest of the trip will be that easy." Minseok comments before turning around and walking toward the nearly abandoned station. 

☽ ☽ ☽

"You should put on a mask." Jongdae comments as the pair wait in the cold for the train to arrive. "Someone might see you; we aren't out of this yet." Jongdae adjusts his own face mask while speaking, glancing over at Minseok who seems unbothered. Jongdae moves behind Minseok when he's finished messing around with his own mask, unzipping the other's bag so he can dig around inside. "There's no extra mask in here." He sighs as he pulls away, zipping up the bag once finding it useless. 

"Because Lay knows that androids don't need masks."

"But we're sneaking away from people that want androids like you dead. You'd think he'd throw one in for a disguise." Jongdae feels like pulling his own hair out. Sure, androids were extremely intelligent, but at times like this... He pats himself down to see if he can give anything to Minseok to provide them with cover. He sighs when he comes up with nothing. "Well, let's just hope that no one here ends up being a loyalist." 

"There's no one else here, and if they are here, it's to get away from them. That's the only reason the station here is used anymore." Minseok keeps his head down though, just to ease Jongdae's concerns. He hadn't said anything, but Minseok was able to catch on that Jongdae was feeling anxious about the situation. He's not sure how he'd feel about everything if he was a human too. Maybe he'd be less stressed; he wouldn't have to worry about loyalists. 

Jongdae looks over when hearing the train pull into the station, Minseok grabbing the money from his bag. "This is supposed to cover the two of us." He stares at the change in his hand. "Stand behind me and I'll pay." He instructs as the train doors open. 

Payment goes without a hitch, the two men making their way to seats towards the back of the train. "Now just sit still and stay quiet for the ride." Minseok says quietly when Jongdae sits down. Minseok sits next to him, Jongdae instinctively moving closer to him. Jongdae picked a window seat, though he was too anxious to spend the ride staring out the window. 

"Do you think things will go well?" He whispers to Minseok, concerned eyes gazing up at him. 

"Possibly." That wasn't very comforting. "More than likely." Closer, he supposes. "Yes." Jongdae chuckles quietly at this. 

☽ ☽ ☽

The first ride went smoothly, Jongdae and Minseok now sitting on the second bus that would head to Daejeon. They just needed to pass Daegu first and then they'd arrive to Miryang, their destination. There were a few other people on the train now, though no one was talking; everyone seemed to be minding their own business. "After this we just need to make it Busan from Miryang." Jongdae whispers to Minseok, though he seems to be telling this to himself. He was still anxious, and Jongdae couldn't understand why as he felt safer now than he did when traveling by car. 

"Relax." Minseok whispers, resting his hand on top of Jongdae's and giving it a comforting squeeze. He watches as they slow to a stop; they were in Daejeon now, next they would head to Daegu. He watches as the train stops to let on a group of four men. Minseok keeps an eye on them, Jongdae obliviously staring down at their hands. He watches as two men sit toward the front, and the other two disperse and sit in different areas. He didn't like that, though maybe they didn't know each other. Maybe they were simply waiting together at the station. Jongdae and Minseok lean back slightly in their seats when the train pulls out of the station, heading in the direction of Daegu.

"What's the first thing you want to do when we get to Busan?" Jongdae's voice pulls Minseok's attention off the men, glancing back at the man beside him. He hadn't thought of that before, not when it seemed like such an impossible dream, but now that the two of them were actually on a train, it seemed like getting to Busan would actually be possible. He felt excited, almost. Or maybe something similar to that. He wasn't sure.

"I don't know. I guess we'll have to find something to do." Jongdae smiles shyly at this, his cheeks warming up as he glances down at their hands again before looking out the window. He wasn't expecting Minseok to say they'd have to find something to do. He thought Minseok would ditch him the first chance he got in Busan. "Is there anything in particular you want to do?"

Before Jongdae can open his mouth to speak, the train comes to harsh stop, Minseok and Jongdae jerking forward and colliding into the seats in front of them. "What the fuck?" Minseok mutters angrily as he helps Jongdae back into his seat, checking him for injuries briefly. When he establishes that Jongdae's fine, he turns around and instantly notices that one of the men he'd seen earlier was now gone. Actually ~~\--~~  

"There's, where did the group of men go?" Jongdae raises an eyebrow at Minseok's question though tries to follow his eyesight. Even the two that were seated toward the front of the train cabin were gone now. "Fuck." He groans out when realizing what was about to happen. "Jongdae," he turns in his seat, grabbing the man by the shoulders as he stares at him, "stay by my side and stay quiet. If anyone asks you for money or the bag off your back, give it to them. Do not fight them." He can see the panic on Jongdae's face, but he keeps going. "Worse comes to worst, let me do the talking and the fighting. If it gets bad enough and you see an opportunity to escape, do not hesitate. Leave me here." Jongdae quickly shakes his head, his eyes wide and mouth gaping as he grabs onto his shirt. 

"I told you I'm not leaving you. Take me seriously, won't you? I nearly drowned to stay with you. Now tell me what's happening?" He jumps in his seat when the doors to their train cabin are kicked open, shouting being heard from the entrance. 

"The train is being robbed." 

Jongdae looks up in fear when he sees a group of four men standing at the front of the cabin, guns loaded and armed as they look around. "They must have snuck out of our cabin earlier." Minseok whispers to the shaken man beside him. "They more than likely already took out the engineer; they probably got most of the money the train carries, but they might be robbing the civilians now for extra cash. Usually at this point if you do what they say they won't harm you since they already have what they want." Jongdae squeezes his eyes shut when he hears one of the men yell, demanding cash from the passengers. He knew they were screwed; these trains, since they carried refugees and people fleeing to Busan, were not normally helped or looked after by the police when it came to robberies. It's one of the reasons they were such big targets to gangs. 

"Listen up," the voice is of a higher pitch than Jongdae was expecting, "if you listen to us and do what we ask, then you might get by with only a scratch." Jongdae's heart is pounding in his chest as he sits in his seat, Minseok gripping onto his hand tightly as he stares straight ahead. Minseok can probably hear his heart pounding, but Jongdae didn't care. He was fucking terrified. "You see this bag here?" Jongdae slowly looks up, his eyes landing on a short man, maybe around his height, with black messy hair. He's holding up a black bag, waving it in the air. "Put your money, personal belongings, jewelry, whatever ~~\--~~ put them in here. If you even try to argue with me, you'll get a bullet to the head." 

"Baek," a taller man appears from behind, "just don't make them too nervous to hand you their belongings." He sighs. The taller man was tan, and while he looked nothing like this 'Baek' character, his hair was a similar style and shade. 

"Fuck off, Tao." 

At this, a man around Baek's height comes out with his own bag and gun in hand, prancing over to the first passengers he saw. A group of two, the oldest looking around Jongdae's age. He couldn't tell if she was an android or a human, and it seemed that the man didn't care. "In the bag." He watches the woman hesitate and Jongdae swears internally. What was worth more than your life? "Just give him the money." He whispers to himself and the hold on his hand grows tighter. "The bag." He repeats as he stares down. "Or I shoot your friend for your arrogance." In a swift movement, he has his gun pressed to the forehead of the woman beside her. Jongdae can see the woman trembling from where he sits, glancing over at Minseok, though the android was simply staring ahead. 

The woman quickly searches through her bag, shaky hands grabbing onto any money she could find before stuffing them in the bag. "Too slow." The deafening pop of the gun makes Jongdae jerk back into his seat. The woman has no time to react to her friend's death, a bullet firing into her head only seconds after. Crying and sniffling can be heard around the cabin, other passengers frantically grabbing for items to hand to the men for when they make their rounds.

"Luhan!" Tao's seething as he storms over, grabbing the gun from Luhan's hand. "We agreed to no senseless violence." 

Jongdae drowns out the bickering and looks to Minseok. "We don't have money to give them. We used all our money on the train. What do we give them?" He was seconds away from becoming hysterical and Minseok knew that.

"We give them everything in our bags. Food, water, whatever. Give them what you have and he won't shoot. Don't hesitate, either. Give it before they say anything." Minseok's coming up with scenarios in his head, trying to determine what would be the best cause of action, the best endgame possible. Minseok watches with a keen eye as another man walks toward them. He didn't know the name, it wasn't Baek, or Tao, or Luhan. He had a buzz cut and round, doe like eyes and plump lips with an unreadable expression on his face. He didn't know if he'd be trouble; usually those were the ones that ended up being trouble. "Get your things ready." He instructs under his breath quietly. 

Jongdae shakily grips onto his bag when the man stops next to them. "You're an android." He comments the second his eyes land on Minseok. "I guess that's not entirely surprising given where we are." He shifts in his spot for a second before pointing the gun at Jongdae. "A gun won't do anything to you," he says while glancing at Minseok, "so I'll have to hold it on you. Hand me the bag." Jongdae's mind completely blanks when seeing the barrel of the gun pointed between his eyes. 

"Jongdae, the bag." Minseok says under his breath, keeping as calm as possible as to not set off the man. He glances beside him when Jongdae makes no movement. What on earth was he doing? "Jongdae, hand him the bag." He says again. Minseok could feel his body start to lean into the fight or flight when Jongdae remained still, the man beside them gradually losing his patience. Minseok looks between the man and Jongdae, noting the look of panic smeared all over Jongdae's face. This was the absolute worst time for Jongdae to freeze in fear and Minseok was certainly feeling the pressure of the moment. 

"Tao won't be happy about this." As soon as he hears that, Minseok's out of his seat within seconds, grabbing hold of the gun in the man's hand and twisting it down, effectively breaking the man's finger in the process. He rips the gun from his hand and wraps his arm around his neck as he steps behind him. Minseok has the gun pointed to side of his head now, eyes narrow as he looks around carefully. The attention of the other three men are on him. 

"I will kill him if you don't surrender your weapons to me." His grip on the gun is tight, moving over slightly so that he's blocking Jongdae's view from the other three men. "Are we really worth one of your men dying?" 

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Baek swears loudly as he looks between Tao and Luhan, probably looking for an answer. Minseok's not sure what he's going to do if it turns out they don't care about the man's safety. "They've got fucking Kyungsoo."

"He's always been a buzzkill." Luhan shrugs and Kyungsoo swears under his breath, something about Luhan being a no good ~~\--~~

"Surrender your weapons." Tao demands, slowly lowering his gun to the floor. Minseok really didn't want this to end as a shoot out. 

"Wait a second," Baek's in the process of setting his gun on the ground, "you're that fucking android the government wants." Minseok swears to every god he can think of. "Do you guys know how much money this piece of shit is worth?" Baek exchanges a look with Luhan, the two wearing new expressions. 

"I mean damn, if we only have to lose Kyungsoo to get the money this guy's worth? Worth it if you fucking ask me." Luhan scoffs and even Tao has a new expression on his face.

"Minseok, what do we do?" Jongdae whispers frantically from behind the man. 

"Look for an exit and use it if you see the chance." 

"We only have to trade one piece of shit for another." Baek's hand is hovering over the gun he has placed on the floor, and every outcome in Minseok's head is coming out negative. He didn't want to have to kill anyone, but his system was saying that was starting to look impossible. The issue was who he would shoot first, and how he would make it out of this.

Jongdae sighs shakily. This was his fault, if he didn't freak out and just handed the bag to Kyungsoo then everything would have been okay. Or at least better than it was right now. He wasn't going to ditch Minseok, that much he knew, not when Minseok was already risking his life for him. His foot is tapping nervously against the carpeted floor, his fingers drumming on top of the bag. His eyes land on Kyungsoo's holster, seeing that he had another gun that Minseok hadn't grabbed. He can see Kyungsoo's hand slowly inching toward the gun and another wave of panic washes over him. As much as he wanted to let his fear paralyze him and let Minseok handle things, when Minseok's life was put at risk, Jongdae just couldn't sit around and wait for things to happen, especially when Minseok was having a stare down with Baek, who was seconds away from grabbing his own gun. 

It's when Baek makes a move for his gun and Minseok fires a shot aimed at his hand, Jongdae lunges forward and yanks the gun out of Kyungsoo's holster. He watches as Baek hurls himself back, leaning over and pressing his bleeding hand against his chest. "You fucker, you stupid fucker!" He swears loudly as he turns around, crouching down while Tao fires a shot toward Minseok, though he uses Kyungsoo to block it from hitting him. 

Jongdae doesn't know what he's doing, he's never held a gun before in his life. Now watching Minseok use Kyungsoo's lifeless body as a shield while he fires shots at Luhan and Tao...it sets in that Jongdae _really_ doesn't know what he's doing. He's clutching the gun to his chest, crouched between the seats as the gun blasts continue in the air. He's shaking as he glances down at the gun in his hands before looking back at Minseok. His head is screaming at him to do something, to do anything, that would get them out of this situation. 

Minseok gets a precise headshot on Tao, and Jongdae panics when seeing his body drop to the ground. "Oh my god, oh my god. Okay, fuck...it's fine." It was most definitely not fine. He hears Baek shout something as he runs over to Tao, Luhan firing another round toward Minseok. His eyes are wide like saucers when Minseok glances over at him, freezing in spot when seeing how terrified Jongdae was and how small he looked from his spot on the floor. Did Jongdae see him shoot Tao? Would he look at him like he's a _murderer_ now? 

"Jongdae, it's not ~~\--~~ "

Jongdae lets out a startled scream when Minseok is thrown to the floor, Luhan sitting on his back as he presses his gun to the back of Minseok's head. "L-Leave him alone!" Jongdae shakily warns as he points the gun at Luhan, though he and Baek only laugh in the background. 

"Look what the android was hiding behind him." Baek says in a taunting voice. "He's cute; if we kill the android can we keep his human? I like them shaky." He leans forward and Jongdae points the gun in his face. "I-I'll shoot!"

"You don't know how to shoot that thing, sweetheart; you'll probably shoot yourself in the process. I don't understand how androids can lug humans around. We're just so useless sometimes." Baek makes a mocking face at him that makes Jongdae jump. "Luhan, just get it over with." He turns his back to Jongdae and looks down at Luhan. "One less shitty android on this earth. An android that killed his ~~\--~~ "

Jongdae fires the gun three times. One at the back of Baek's head, one at Luhan's chest, and one into the floor on accident. His chest is heaving as he keeps the gun aimed in front of him. He's drenched in sweat and his hands are clammy. 

"Jongdae," the voice is soft as Minseok slowly pushes himself off the floor, "Jongdae, _darling_ , give me the gun." Jongdae shakes his head and he falls flat onto his ass, backing up until his back hits a seat. "Jongdae, it's me." Minseok's carefully crawling over to him, making sure that he doesn't startle the other. "It's done; they're gone now. You're safe. I'm safe." Jongdae drops the gun at this, his eyes filling up with tears as he kicks the gun away from him. Minseok rushes over at this, pulling Jongdae into a tight hug. 

"I killed someone." Jongdae cries out and Minseok only pulls him closer, keeping a hand on the back of his head as he rocks the man gently. He shushes him quietly, not wanting Jongdae to think about what he just did. "I killed two people."

"You had no choice." Minseok responds, his free hand rubbing his back soothingly. "They would have killed you too. You only got to them first." Jongdae continues to sob in Minseok's embrace, his hand clutching onto the fabric of his shirt as he pulls him closer. "We need to go," Minseok says after a few minutes of holding him, "we have to walk the rest of the way and it will get dark soon. We're almost at Daegu. Our walk will only be a little longer than we expected." 

Minseok gets up first, grabbing Jongdae by the hands and helping him up afterward. "You did good." He whispers, brushing any dirt he saw off the other. "And I'm proud of you. Please do not dwell on your actions today. Look at it as you saving other peoples' lives. Now they can't harm anyone else." 

"Should...should we take the money?" Jongdae whispers and points at the bodies. "Take any food or water?" 

"A little. Only take what you need. Focus on water and food. Maybe we can find another train or car somewhere, so only take a little cash. This is blood money; we don't want too much of it." Minseok advises from where he stands, eyes on Jongdae as he walks toward the deceased men to examine their items. "And please, hurry."

☽ ☽ ☽

_i love jongdae hi_

__


	8. Gentle ones

_**Tw: Abuse is mentioned, as well as some graphic scenes involving blood. Be careful & happy reading!** _

\--

Jongdae and Minseok walk silently side by side, neither saying anything. Jongdae was staring down at his feet while Minseok kept his eyes in front of him, scanning the empty road for any threats. It was raining and both Jongdae and Minseok were soaked, though Jongdae was the only one feeling cold. "How long do we have to walk?" His voice is small as he speaks, and Minseok feels something in his chest ache. 

"Probably three hours. Miryang was an hour and a half from Busan by foot, we're even farther now. Maybe three and a half. I don't think it will be more than that." He slows his pace down so that he falls beside Jongdae, glancing over at the silent man. "We should stop for a bit; wait the rain out." Jongdae doesn't answer. "Maybe we can find a cave, I can scan the area ~~\--~~ "

"We shouldn't waste anymore time." 

"Your health is my top priority." Minseok blurts and he feels _himself_ start to grow shy in return, something that he was not used to at all. Jongdae seems to be caught off guard as well, his cheeks burning as he only stares at his feet harder. Minseok's starting to get into his own thoughts, his eyebrows furrowing as he tries to think of something to say to make things less awkward. "It's ~~\--~~ "

"I guess if you find a cave we can wait out the storm." Jongdae interrupts softly, Minseok feeling himself ease ever so slightly. 

Jongdae still had a lot on his mind and he wasn't sure how to deal or sort out any of the emotions he was experiencing. Minseok told him it wasn't his fault, that he _had_ to kill Baek and Luhan, but he still didn't feel good about it. He had blood on his hands and that was the last thing he wanted, then again, if he didn't do anything then Minseok would have been killed and having Minseok's blood on his hands would be even worse than the blood of two people. _It was necessary, a necessary evil,_  is what he likes to tell himself when he gets too buried in his thoughts. 

His socks are growing wet from the constant puddles he's stepping in and if he wasn't feeling uncomfortable before than he certainly is now. His nose is becoming runny and his cheeks cold, a sigh escaping Minseok. "You're getting sick." He stops him in his tracks, looking around the area to see if he could scan anything. "There's a cave ten minutes ahead of us. Is that okay with you?" Jongdae nods his head silently, gripping onto the side of his shirt. "Then we can figure out something to get you warm. I can start a fire and we can work the rest out." 

☽ ☽ ☽

Jongdae's sitting on a damp rock in the back of a cave Minseok found while the two were aimlessly walking through the empty roads. "This is a good thing," Minseok's voice pulls Jongdae's attention on him. "It was getting cold from the rain, you would have gotten sick if we were in it too much longer." There's a small fire roaring in front of the pair, courtesy of Minseok. Minseok's sitting across from Jongdae, staring down at the fire as he absentmindedly rubs his hands together. "Are your clothes uncomfortable?" He asks when noticing Jongdae shivering. 

"A little, but it's okay." He whispers as he keeps his gaze off the other man. He was trying to get everything out of his mind, between Sehun and Jongin and the train incident, it seemed he was just exchanging one problem for another. He couldn't believe he killed someone, let alone two people. Maybe it was a necessary evil, but that doesn't mean Jongdae feels any less shitty about it. His clothes are freezing and it's bothering him, but at the same time he feels as if it's deserved. After this entire ordeal, after everything that's gone horribly, horribly wrong, maybe a little cold is punishment enough. 

His eyes flicker up when he hears shuffling, watching Minseok pull off his jacket and tossing it to Jongdae. "Wear this. You don't want to be sick while we're walking there. It will make everything more miserable for you." He pauses before a humming noise can be heard from him.

"What are you doing?" Jongdae asks as he cautious holds out the jacket in front of him.

"I'm self-heating my clothes for you."

"You're doing what?" 

"We're going to trade clothes. I don't mind being damp or wet or cold." A beat of silence passes by and Jongdae goes scarlet, eyes widening as he quickly shakes his head. 

"Stay in your clothes, Minseok. I'm perfectly fine like this, I don't need your clothes ~~\--~~ _Minseok_!" Jongdae becomes flustered when Minseok tosses his shirt his way, Jongdae nearly dropping the fabric with how hard he was trying to avoid looking in Minseok's general direction. He grows even redder at the thought of changing in front of Minseok, his face becoming hotter as if that were even possible. 

"You're overthinking this. I'm just going to put on your damp clothes." He explains while standing up, slipping his jeans off and also tossing them Jongdae's way. Jongdae's hunched over, face buried in his hands. "Please change so I don't stay half naked." His comment only makes it worse and Jongdae finds himself having the hardest time undressing. 

"Please turn around." His voice is soft and flustered as he places the articles of clothing onto the rock he was sitting on, shyly glancing Minseok's way. It takes a second to register before Minseok quickly turns around, a soft sigh leaving Jongdae as he quickly changes and puts on Minseok's clothes. They were definitely warm and dry, Jongdae feeling significantly better than he was only moments ago. "Thank you." He smiles appreciatively as he hands his old clothes to Minseok, who he assumed would just go back into self-heat mode once he changed into them. He glances over to Minseok before blowing air into his cheeks, shoving the clothes his way and quickly heading back to his seat, eyes back on the fire so he wouldn't have to look at the other while he was half naked.

"Do you feel better?" He asks casually while pulling on Jongdae's wet clothes. "If it's not I can ~~\--~~ "

"It's really nice." He smiles when Minseok sits back down, fully dressed. "You aren't cold?"

"I can't get cold." 

A silence forms over the pair as Minseok goes back to rubbing his hands together. "How are you handling things?" It was only natural for Minseok to want to check on the welfare of Jongdae after everything. He knew Jongdae wasn't always the strongest mentally, and the fact that he had remained so silent over everything was worrying. He held a natural instinct to protect Jongdae, to make sure that nothing ever harmed him as long as he was around. He wasn't sure what that was, he only felt that once and that wasn't something that had been recent. 

"As good as I can, I guess." Jongdae tugs the jacket he's wearing closer to his body, a soft sigh leaving him afterward. "I'm trying not to think about it too much. Maybe when we make it to Busan I can deal with the consequences." His voice is heavy as he speaks, the man pulling at his fingers anxiously as he tries to keep his mind under control. "I'm just telling myself in the meantime that it was a necessary evil. I can go into the specifics when I'm able to afford it." 

Minseok nods his head in understanding, deciding not to press the conversation any further. It would do them no good to continue dwelling over it. He pauses and notices how shaken up Jongdae is, a deep sigh leaving the android. "Do you want to know why I'm wanted? Why the government is using me as their scapegoat? Why I'm being used to justify the killings of androids and people who defend them?" Jongdae snaps up at Minseok's words, chewing on his bottom lip as he stares ahead at the other.

"You don't need to tell me because you think it'll make me feel better. I want you to tell me because you want to. Because you trust me."  _Trust._ Was that a word Minseok was familiar with? Created as an android, he was told his entire existence that he wasn't human, that he couldn't feel real, _authentic_ human emotions. He would never be good enough to pass as a human, and he was definitely reminded of that on a daily basis. He didn't know if he trusted Jongdae. He didn't know what that would feel like. He knew what it was to trust; he understood what it was when a human trusted another human, or when a human trusted an android (in the case of Sehun), but could Minseok ever fully understand something like that? The commitment of that? 

"You don't need to force yourself." But Jongdae's voice comes as sweet as honey, and it calms him down even when Minseok doesn't realize he's on edge. Maybe this was trust. He could depend on Jongdae, he knew he'd be there for him, and his actions showed that on many occasions. There were so many times where Jongdae could have abandoned him, could have turned him in to make his own life easier, but he never did. He stuck by his side, something Minseok didn't think a human was capable of doing with an android until he met Sehun and Jongin. 

"I'm not." It doesn't even sound like his own voice. It feels like he's talking without his own permission. It feels so...disembodied. "You...you have never left my side, even when you could have. I'm grateful for that." His left eyebrow twitches as he speaks, his thoughts trying to come to terms with these...feelings? He wasn't sure if he could call it that. 

"Only if you're sure." 

Minseok has to bite back a smile as he glances down at the fire. "I did kill someone." Minseok hesitates, looking up to see Jongdae's reaction. His eyes were closed, the man trying to steady his breathing, though he has no words to say and his face remains blank. He didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. "It wasn't...I didn't kill a family. The girl I watched, she was really young. When I was activated, she was the first person I saw. I mean, I saw my creator, but other than him I had never seen another human before." He glances over at Jongdae, wanting to catch his response throughout the conversation. "And when I saw her, I knew from that instant that I wanted to protect her. There was such innocence in her eyes ~~\--~~ that's when I learned that children are so impressionable, that they need someone to look out for them. 

I told you that I was purchased to be a playmate for the child, and how the father of the house never approved of it. There was abuse. I was told by both parents to never get involved, so I didn't. I watched it happen and I simply got the girl away from it. The mother informed me to make sure she never got involved or faced her father's wrath. I took it seriously, you know. When a human asks you to do something, and they're the ones who've purchased you, it's hard to disobey them."

"I'm sure you did the best you could." Jongdae didn't know where the conversation was going, but Minseok started to sound a little distressed. It was a side of him he'd never seen before. 

"Except I didn't." Minseok draws in a shaky breath, closing his eyes in an attempt to regain his composure. "Things really escalated one night. A fight broke out between her parents during dinner, and the next thing I knew I was scooping her up and carrying the girl upstairs to her room. I was going to tuck her into bed early, she would just have to skip dinner and eat the next morning. I wasn't a big fan of that, but there wasn't a choice. These fights were often violent and I didn't think she should witness those things." There's a silence that hangs in the air, Jongdae leaning in as he raises an eyebrow.

"What happened?" His curiosity was taking over.

"They went to bed. Nothing happened until a few hours later, around three in the morning. You know I don't sleep, so when I lived with the family I would power down over night; the father didn't like the idea of me roaming around and cleaning throughout the night. He called it unnerving." Minseok snorts silently as he leans back, rolling his eyes at the memory. "Thought I'd kill him in his sleep." Minseok comments before growing an entirely serious face, Jongdae getting chills. "I powered back on when I heard screaming coming from upstairs. I thought maybe someone broke in, so I rushed toward the master bedroom." Images flash in Minseok's mind and he tries to push them down. "It was just a mess. There was blood everywhere in the bedroom, and I could see the mother's body from her bed."

"What happened?" Jongdae's voice is a faint whisper, shaking as if he had been the one to experience it himself. 

"The father snapped and stabbed her in the night."

"Over the argument they had?" Jongdae's appalled at the thought. "I don't understand what would drive someone to that point."

"I think it was pent up feelings of resentment the two held for each other over such a long period of time. I don't think it was necessarily this one fight that pushed him over the edge, but the fights they had every night." He rubs his hands against his pants, sighing shakily as he relives everything in his head. 

Jongdae, sensing that there was more to the story, moves so that he's sitting next to Minseok instead of across from him. "It didn't stop there, did it?" He asks gently, eyes soft as he gazes at the man beside him. "You don't have to tell me anything else if it's too painful." He carefully places a hand on his back, rubbing his back soothingly. "I appreciate you opening up this much to me in the first place. It means a lot that you trust me." Minseok feels himself grow flustered and he can't even focus from the comment. If he was still unsure about trusting Jongdae earlier, he definitely confirmed that for him now. 

"When I realized that the mother was dead and the father was missing from the room, I immediately thought of the young girl. When I reached her room," Minseok swallows thickly, fluttering his eyes shut as he allows the images, the scents, everything to come flooding back to him, "the stench of blood was immediate. My senses felt overwhelmed the moment I stepped inside. The amount of blood that was in her room compared to her mother's...it was unreal. I had only heard horror stories like that before on the news, but I never thought I would see something like that in front of me." He feels tension leave his body when Jongdae places a hand on the back of his neck, his thumb caressing the skin in small circles. He was practically melting into his touch. "And when I finally tore my eyes off the surroundings, when I finally came back to my senses, I saw her small, tiny body on the carpet, surrounded by a large pool of blood. She was stabbed too, like her mother." He recalls softly, eyebrows furrowed together as sweat starts to bead on his forehead, and his throat started to feel as if it was closing in on itself. He felt warm too. He was not used to this.

"And he was standing over her, bloodied knife in his hand as he stared down at her. I think I just snapped, if I'm being honest." His voice drops down to a whisper as he stares down at his hands. "I was supposed to protect her, and I couldn't. I let a monster hurt her, harm her, kill her. I let him kill her mother, too. I wasn't asleep, yet my body didn't respond until I heard screaming from the child. I don't know why, I don't know why it took me so long to respond to everything that was happening. I should have ~~\--~~ my senses should have been alerted or something."

"Is it possible that he did something so that you wouldn't wake up right away?" Jongdae asks when Minseok glances over at him. "Something that would prevent you from hearing and getting involved earlier? He probably knew you'd be able to take him on." 

"I'm not sure. It could have just been a coincidence. I guess that's, there's nothing I can do about that now. I just remember the way he looked at me after, as if I had done it. He looked at me like I was the one who told him to kill his wife and child." There's disbelief in his voice, the tone of hatred not too far behind it. "I already knew what he was going to do at that point anyway."

"What do you mean?" Jongdae asks with a raised eyebrow. "What was he going to do? Did he hurt you?" There's urgency to his voice as he scoots closer to Minseok, the android feeling himself grow shy once again, a feeling he has not yet become all that familiar with. 

"He was going to blame me. Why would he admit that he killed his wife and child when he could blame it on an android? At that point, political tensions dealing with androids had already surfaced. People were angry with us for stealing their jobs, leading better lives...would they even properly investigate the crime scene? If he said I did it, they might have just gone with his word."

"But ~~\--~~ but you didn't kill them. His blood and his fingerprints would be all over the weapon. All over the bodies and the house! I ~~\--~~  even if they're corrupt, can they really ignore all the evidence like that? Especially when it involves a child, why would they want a man like him out on the streets?" Minseok smiles at Jongdae's innocence, how naive he was. It made sense that he wouldn't understand, after all he's not an android. He's a human who, up until this moment, has never faced oppression from the human race for being an android. Of course now he was just as wanted and illegal as Minseok, but would he ever truly understand? 

"Even if the evidence was right in front of their face ~~\--~~ "

"Which it was."

" ~~\--~~ it makes no difference. What makes better headlines? Family android goes off deep end and slaughters family, or abusive dad kills wife and child? Both are bad, sure, but one is pushing the political agenda the government wanted." His eyes land on the fire, observing the way the flames lick at the wood. "So I did what I had to. I killed the father." Jongdae doesn't say anything, he only looks over at Minseok silently. "I wasn't thinking. Normally I run through hundreds of scenarios through my head and what the outcomes would be, but at that moment, I just lunged at him. I didn't know who would win, what would happen, what the consequences would be."

"He put up a good fight." Minseok comments after a while. "I almost lost to him. He was stronger than he appeared. I knew if I killed him then he wouldn't be able to report me to the police; he wouldn't be able to lie about me. However, I then had the issue of.."

"Disposing of the bodies?" 

"Yeah. I now had three bodies, and one was due to me. I had my fingerprints on the father, my footprints were in the room. I'm sure they could stage it to where it looked like I did everything ~~\--~~ well, I mean they did exactly that." He shakes his head before patting his knees. "The neighbors heard the commotion and called the police. I wasn't aware until there was a swarm of cop cars surrounding the house. I managed to get out, had a police dog attack my leg, nearly lost it." He speaks so casually about his escape, recounting the obstacles and injuries he got along the way, how regardless of killing the father or keeping him alive that the government used him as the final straw, how after that night everything changed and androids started getting slaughtered by the hundreds. 

Jongdae wants to tell him that he's not responsible for anything that's happened, how he can't blame himself for what the government is doing, but what good will it do? Would it change anything? Would Minseok even believe his words? Minseok seems to understand what Jongdae's thinking, a small smile forming on his lips as he nudges his side with his shoulder gently. 

"Nothing that can be changed now. This was long overdue anyway. If the government wasn't going to pick me, they would have just found an android that was in the same situation as me anyway. I would have ended up a fugitive anyway; I mean all androids are fugitives at this point. All living ones, anyway. You would still be a fugitive too, after a while you, Sehun, and Jongin would have found yourselves in trouble anyway. And that's if they met different fates." Jongdae nods along to this, taking his bottom lip in between his teeth. The world was truly a fucked up a place. 

"I don't regret leaving with you." Minseok looks up when hearing Jongdae's comment, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "And I don't blame you for anything that happened. And, in a weird way, I'm glad you followed me home." Jongdae can't help but let out a small laugh after from how odd that sounded. "Not to gratify your stalking behaviors." Minseok rolls his eyes.

"I think you're feeling fine again. Maybe I'll make you wear your damp clothes again." He hears a gasp from Jongdae before being lightly shoved, a smirk on Minseok's face as he lets the other push him around. Jongdae looks around Minseok to see the skies clearing (as much as they could, anyway) and that the pouring rain had been reduced down to a drizzle. 

"I think we can head out again. The storm seems to be mostly over, I don't think we'll be getting wet." Though Jongdae pauses after saying this, a look of concern flashing over his features. For a second Minseok was wandering if Jongdae was second guessing going out again. The robbery was probably still fresh on his mind. "Do you feel up to going out? You don't look too good." This time it's Minseok who's confused, his head tilting to the side as he gazes at Jongdae. What was he talking about? "You look paler than usual. Are you sure you're okay with wearing my clothes? I'm not cold anymore, we can trade."

"I told you, I don't get cold." Minseok finds himself explaining once again. He was paler though? He couldn't really explain that, as far as he knew his model didn't really change color too much. Perhaps he was being overworked. In these conditions, just about anything was possible. 

"But, but you don't look great. You look like I did just an hour or two ago." Jongdae points out his appearance once again. "Really, why don't we just wait out the night?"

"Why wait out the night when we could reach Busan by then? I promise you I feel fine. Don't spend your time worrying about me. I'll let you know if something's up." He wasn't sure why Jongdae was so worried, but it was starting to concern Minseok as well. He hears a long and heavy sigh leave Jongdae before he stands up.

"Very well." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: remember when this was gonna be a three-shot lmao yeah, me too


	9. Crimson red

Shouting in the distance, the sky above him filled with smoke and ash, his vision blurred. His body aches all over, his limbs screaming for him to take a break, to just _please_ stop moving. His body was in absolute overload, his vision flashing red and numerous warning signs block his sight. Minseok's body was on the verge of shutting down and he had absolutely no idea why.

He can feel himself fading out of consciousness, an anger rooted deep inside him as he tries to desperately figure out what's happening, why he's practically dying, where he is, more important where _Jongdae_  is. He wasn't satisfied with the possibility of dying without any answers, though he wouldn't be surprised if the universe thought a cruel ending would be fit for him, _for his kind._  

He can feel his eyes starting to close, his ears ringing from all the internal warnings from his system. And then it stops, right before he can feel himself slip away. The red flashing goes away, the ringing slowly disappears, and his body doesn't feel like it's on fire. He blinks several times, and in his dazed state he sees Jongdae staring down at him, eyes filled with tears and realization on his face, a realization that Minseok doesn't quite know or understand. 

It's when he notices Jongdae's bare face covered in dirt and ash, his hand shakily pressing and holding his mask over his mouth and nose, and blood seeping out from the side of his head that Minseok tries to jolt upright, but his body doesn't let him ~~\--~~  he can't move. 

"Minseok, are you awake? Are you alright? Can you hear me?" There's an urgency to his voice as Jongdae glances behind them. "We need to leave, Minseok." Is all he can hear before being overtaken by complete darkness. 

 

_**Earlier that day...** _

 

Minseok and Jongdae left the cave only half an hour ago, their surroundings much drier than it was only a few hours ago. They were now walking through the thick forests of Daejeon, deciding it was safer than just walking out in the open along the streets.

Jongdae's been glancing over in Minseok's direction every few minutes, keeping an eye on the android's appearance. He was still pale, and according to what Jongdae knew about androids (which wasn't much), he knew that they didn't change color, as in they couldn't grow pale. Then again, he's seen Minseok grow red several times, so he's not really sure how androids work. 

"You're sure you're up for this? Maybe we could find another cave. Listen," Jongdae rubs his hands against his pants nervously, "I don't mind staying out overnight. We can sleep in shifts."

"I don't sleep."

"We can take breaks in shifts." He corrects himself before Minseok can interrupt again. "And that way the following morning we'll both feel well rested." 

"It'll be too dangerous to stay out here overnight. It's just not safe. I'm fine, okay? I promise." Minseok can tell Jongdae's feeling anxious over his wellbeing, and while he does find it flattering, he's not sure why he's even worried in the first place. Minseok has demonstrated time and time again that he'll be fine no matter what the situation is. Jongdae hesitates, though eventually ends up nodding anyway. 

However, after only another thirty minutes Minseok starts to appear winded and Jongdae instantly notices. "Ah, Minseok, why don't we sit down for a few minutes." He cautiously takes Minseok by the hand, leading him over to a tree stump and sits the man down. He sees Minseok begin to stand up, though he quickly forces him to sit back down. "You're clearly not okay. Look at how pale you are," Jongdae gently puts his hand under Minseok's chin, tilting his head up as he inspects his face closely. "You look sick. How can you feel okay? Something's clearly going on inside." He pokes his nose playfully before resting the back of his hand against his forehead. "You feel really warm too. Are you absolutely positive that you can't get sick?" 

Minseok sits in silence, his mind replaying his words as he tries to think over the possibilities. He was positive he wasn't sick; that just wasn't something that his system could miss, let alone be something that was even possible for him. An android getting sick? Along with that, he wasn't feeling ill. No headaches, no nausea, nothing. Even the most advanced models of androids couldn't get sick. There was just no need for them to get sick, unless they were made for medical purposes for hospitals, but even then that isn't what he was modeled after. "I wish I could show you your reflection." He sighs and rests his hands on his hips. "Because you really don't look too hot right now." He pauses and looks around their environment. "Do you know how close we are before we reach Daegu?" 

"We were almost out of Daejeon before the train got stopped." Minseok comments while looking up at the bare trees above them. "So probably seventy minutes by foot before we reach Daegu. From Daegu to Miryang, that should be," Jongdae's eyebrows furrow as he watches Minseok think about it, usually he was fairly quick with coming up with results. "Two hours? It's not very long by car, so it shouldn't be too long by foot...Miryang to Busan should take the longest. It'll also be more dangerous traveling through Miryang." 

"Do you know the exact time?" Jongdae asks as he tries to get Minseok's attention. He was zoning out while staring at the trees. This was out of character for the android. 

"Exact time to what?"

"It ~~\--~~ Minseok, it doesn't sound like we'll reach Busan today anyway. Why can't we just rest for the night?" He's really trying his best to make Minseok understand that it'll take several hours before they reach Busan, yet Minseok's mind seems to be elsewhere, and Minseok doesn't even seem to be aware of it. "Minseok?" He frowns when he notices that Minseok's still staring up at the trees, a long sigh leaving him afterward. 

"We should get moving. It's not safe to hang out in the woods all day. We don't know what kind of people are roaming around here." Minseok comments as he pushes himself to stand back up, Jongdae noticing that it takes a little longer than it usually does. Something wasn't right. 

"It seems pretty dead around here. I don't think we'll run into too many problems if we sit just for a little while." Jongdae explains while tightening the mask that covers the bottom half of his face. "Minseok, why don't you scan out another cave?" Minseok doesn't respond though, only starts to walk forward which only leaves Jongdae the option to follow. He trails behind the other, pursing his lips as he thinks of something to talk about. 

"We don't always have to talk about something." Minseok says when glancing back and seeing the expression on Jongdae's face. "Sometimes silence is good." Jongdae nods along, keeping a close eye on the other. They spend another thirty minutes walking, though this time in silence. Jongdae can hear the heavy breathing of Minseok, which didn't even make sense considering Minseok said he didn't breathe. His mind was swarming with questions, but it seemed unlikely that Minseok would hear them all out, let alone answer any of them. 

His pace was slowing down, to the point where Jongdae didn't need to speed walk in order to keep up with him. He wasn't aware if Minseok did that for Jongdae's comfort, or if it was due to how he was feeling. He looks back to the sky, the color still green though it was growing a darker shade, letting Jongdae know that night would be falling upon them soon. "Is it safe to walk through the woods at night?" Jongdae asks while tightening the straps of his bag. They didn't have any weapons; Jongdae threw the gun after firing it and as far as he knew Minseok didn't have anything on him either. Then again, Minseok didn't really need a weapon to protect himself. 

"If you stay close to my side then things should be okay. Our biggest threat would probably be mutated wild animals. Gangs don't really run around here, that'll probably become an issue for us once we cross into another city." 

"I see." Jongdae glances around at the thought of wild animals lurking behind any bush or tree. He was never out after night, especially not in the woods. He wondered what about wild animals changed after breathing in the rotten air. Would their fur fall out in patches? Skin change color? Did their eyes glow some unnatural color? What if they grew extra limbs? Jongdae shudders at the thought of seeing a two headed deer. A mutated deer was probably the least of the worries when it came to animals. 

"They won't look like they came straight out of a horror movie." Minseok snorts as if he were able to read Jongdae's thoughts. 

"Have you seen wild animals since everything started?" With the way the woods looked, it wouldn't be surprising to Jongdae if he saw a two headed deer. The trees around them were wilted and dying, their bark a sickly gray brown, the soil looking more ashy than it's healthy black. Most trees had leaves that were clinging on the branches for life, while others were stripped bare with dead leaves surrounding the roots on the ground. Not an animal in sight, not a single sound either. The woods were eerily silent; not a bird to be heard. The only things that were making any noise were coming directly from them. 

"They look the same, mostly. A little more agitated and aggressive than usual." Jongdae raises an eyebrow at this, but doesn't question him. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Minseok has concern in his voice as he looks to his side, studying Jongdae's appearance. "Did you take any food or drinks from the train?"

"I took a water bottle and..." Jongdae swings his bag off, unzipping it and rummaging around inside, "and some crackers." The growl his stomach makes makes Jongdae wince. The crackers wouldn't even hold him. "But we'll get plenty of food once we make it to Busan, right? So I'm not too concerned." He just shouldn't think about food for the next several hours. That was all. And as long as he saved his water, he'd be fine. The water was of the upmost importance, not so much the food. 

"You should eat a cracker. There's," he watches as Jongdae pulls out the stack of crackers wrapped in plastic, "eight in the package, right? Have one cracker an hour and you should be okay." Jongdae's stomach whines even more. "And save the water. Be very generous with the amount you drink." 

"I know." Jongdae hums in response while opening the packet, pulling out a single cracker. He puts the rest back into his bag, nibbling on the cracker that's in his hands. "What kind of food do you think Busan has?" Jongdae asks as the last of the daylight prickles past the branches in the trees. "I hope they have...bagels and cream cheese." He hums happily at the thought, almost able to taste it on his tongue.

"It'll do you no good to think about the food you can't have right now. Next thing you know, you'll have eaten all eight crackers." Minseok lightly scolds, though smiles when Jongdae stumbles into his side. "Be careful. You could trip over an uplifted root. The last thing we need is you getting injured out here. I don't think luck would be on our side in terms of getting help." 

"Why do you think I'd be the one getting injured?" He huffs and glances toward Minseok, a grin forming on his lips as he puffs his chest out. "I'm pretty strong, if I don't say so myself."

"Well, you did say so yourself. And strong or not, you're still clumsy." Jongdae frowns at this, though Minseok only has a smile on his face. "Seriously though, keep an eye on the ground so you don't ~~\--~~ " Minseok's mid sentence before his foot gets hooked on a root. Jongdae lunges forward and catches Minseok, his arms wrapping around his waist to keep him from falling. The two are flushed together, chest to chest as Jongdae's face turns a deep shade of scarlet. The red on his face only darkens when he catches the way Minseok was gazing at him, the man biting the bottom of his lip before carefully letting go of Minseok once confirming that he wouldn't fall. 

It only takes a second before Jongdae has a sly smile on his face and Minseok only narrows his eyes. "Don't."

"So, I'm clumsy, yeah?" Jongdae has to dodge a hit from Minseok, giggles leaving him as he jogs ahead of him. "You're gonna be the one that has us stranded, looking for someone to help. And to think, it was _I_ who saved you from plummeting to your death. Jongdae, the clumsy human. Not Minseok, the strong, sturdy, handsome android with muscles built by the Greek gods." 

Minseok raises an eyebrow at this. "Muscles built by the Greek gods? Generous, but don't use up all your energy." Jongdae only responds by sticking his tongue out. The other rolls his eyes as he follows Jongdae's lead. "Do you actually know where you're going?"

"Did _you_ actually know where you were going?" 

"As a matter of fact, yes." 

Jongdae scrunches his nose, opening his mouth to throw a smart comment his way before a loud crack of thunder forms in the skies above, Jongdae visibly jumping and nearly tripping over himself. Minseok sighs at this, motioning for Jongdae to come walk closer to his side. Jongdae falls back a few steps so that he's by Minseok's side, the air becoming several degrees cooler as a new silence fills the air. The winds were picking up, Jongdae closing his eyes as a gust of wind rushes through him, sending chills up and down his spine. Thunderstorms at night were common since chemicals and toxins filled the air, but Jongdae never had to worry about them as he would be holed up in the safety of his apartment. He was afraid of thunderstorms; Jongin and Sehun would often come over and keep him company. The storm earlier was just...rain. It was nothing Jongdae couldn't handle, but this?

The storms at night were dangerous too. The thunder was deafening and the lightening deadlier than usual. It would also become freezing, the fat rain drops feeling like ice pelting your skin. Maybe he should have tried harder at convincing Minseok to find a cave for the rest of the night. 

He could see feelings of conflict on Minseok's face, eyebrows furrowing into a knot as he considers his options. "Should we wait it out?" Jongdae whispers, another chill running through him when another crack of thunder rolls across the sky. Purple lightening strikes the sky, the area lighting up as if it were day for only a brief second. By instinct Minseok takes Jongdae's hand in his, pulling the man closer as they continue to walk. 

"My system doesn't think this storm will be too dangerous. At this point, time is not on our side. I don't think we can afford to wait it out. If it becomes too much for you to handle, or I think it'll take a turn, I'll have us stop for the night, but..." He swallows a lump in his throat as he glances up at the sky, "most animals are going to be finding caves as well. I don't think it'll be any safer for us. Honestly, it might be safer out in the storm." Jongdae knew he had a point ~~\--~~ he didn't want to imagine what they might stumble into in a cave, or what might stumble into them. 

Within minutes the wind picks up and mixed with the winter air they were in for a miserable time. Jongdae was starting to wonder if it would be that bad to be holed up in a cave with a wild animal. Probably. It hasn't started to rain yet, but it was far too dark for it to actually be night yet. He could hardly see and his hand was gripping onto Minseok's so tight that his knuckles were turning white. 

"Scared?" Minseok's calm voice contrasts their surroundings, dark eyes falling over Jongdae. "It'll be okay. You can always cling onto me." Jongdae blushes a ferocious red and quickly averts his gaze back ahead of them. Another strike of lightening hits a tree not too far ahead of them, Jongdae anxiously swallows when catching the scent of burnt wood lofting through the air. 

"We're so fucked." Jongdae whimpers as he only squeezes his hand tighter, the smell of rain become stronger and stronger. "I think it'll be too cold once it starts to rain. I think we'll get sick." Minseok freezes at this. He hadn't thought about Jongdae's health. He's too used to not getting sick himself. How would a human fare under these circumstances? Chilly winter air at night mixed with a thunderstorm? Not well. 

"Shit." Minseok swears under his breath, his thoughts cut off when rain starts to pour down at a fast speed. He tries to scan the area for a nearby cave, though his system falters and it comes up blank. That's...never happened before. "My system is crashing." He comments to himself, though Jongdae hears it anyway.

"What do you mean by that? Are you okay?" He has to raise his voice over the wind and rain in order to be heard. They were getting soaked the longer they stood out there and Minseok knew they only had minutes before things would start to go downhill for Jongdae. 

"I'm okay!" Minseok yells back, blinking several times as wind and rain get in his eyes. "I'll try to find us a cave. I don't want you staying out in this for too long." His voice is nearly drowned out by the storm, Jongdae nodding along as he only catches every other word. Minseok tugs on Jongdae's hand, leading him through the woods. 

The rain is only coming down harder as they push forward, Jongdae's hair blowing back in the wind. The rain is falling against the wind, slamming down into them as Jongdae keeps his eyes narrowed. Everything is so chaotic that Jongdae can barely hear anything other than the thunder, and his only mission is to not get struck by the lightening that strikes down every other minute. It almost feels as if they wind is trying to keep them from leaving with Jongdae finding it increasingly difficult to continue walking. 

Minseok isn't having any luck stumbling upon a hidden cave, and he can tell Jongdae's growing more and more uncomfortable. He's getting colder to the touch, and Minseok's extremely aware of the cough he's letting out every now and then. "We should take a break!" Jongdae calls out over the roaring wind. "I don't think we can keep going much further. Let's just huddle under a tree or something." He's bent over, hands resting on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. He was winded. 

Jongdae slowly straightens back up, letting out a long sigh as he shakes his head. He sees Minseok staring at him with a concerned look, Jongdae opening his mouth to reassure him before a loud boom of thunder cuts him off, lightening striking the tree right next to them. He jumps back, letting the tree fall and crash in between them, Minseok and Jongdae staring at each other with horrified expressions. Another strike of lightening hits the tree, causing it to burst into flames. If this were a normal day, Jongdae would question how lightening struck the same spot twice, but considering the world they were in now it didn't seem that impossible. 

Jongdae immediately begins to panic, chest welling up with fear as he glances from the burning tree to Minseok. "Don't even think about climbing over that." Minseok says with a flat tone. "I'll come over to you." He jumps when another tree falls and lands on top of the one on the ground, rolling slightly once it lands. He swears under his breath before shaking his head. It's when the fire starts to spread on the grass that Minseok's eyes widen. "You need to run in the opposite direction. I'll get around and follow right behind!" Jongdae hesitates, but the urgency in Minseok's voice when he yells again is enough to get his feet moving. 

Fires spread quickly in the woods, and Jongdae knew that it wouldn't be long before everything was up in flames. He's running as fast as his feet can take him, something that wasn't particularly easy given he was running against the wind and rain. Lightening strikes only a few feet away, a cold sweat breaking out over the man as he tries not to focus on it. 

He can feel his arms getting scratched up by low hanging branches, and he nearly trips a few times either on his own feet or by uplifted roots. He stops briefly, however, if only to glance behind him to see if Minseok's anywhere to be seen like promised. He feels a dread like feeling form in his gut when Minseok's not trailing behind him, the man tempted to turn back and head back to the site. It's not a good move, though. If the rampant wildfire was anything to go off. 

Everything was now bright and covered in hues or oranges and reds, ash floating through the air as trees collapse to the ground covered in flames. The heat was licking at Jongdae's skin, an uncomfortable contrast from the cold brought from the wind and rain. "Minseok!" He calls out, eyes wide with panic as he looks around for the android. "Minseok!" He calls louder, his heart starting to hammer in his chest when he once again receives no response. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck..." He runs a shaky and dirty hand through his hair, eyes watering as he looks around wildly. Androids could definitely not survive a fire. There's no way unless they were made fire proof, but he's not sure he's ever heard of a thing like that. 

Another roll of thunder and Jongdae knows what he has to do. He can't shake the feeling of dread. He walks calmly into the fire, droplets of water bouncing off him as he tries to keep himself from panicking. He can hear the shrieks and calls of wild animals, though he can't see any. He could only see smoke, something his mask could barely protect him from. The wind is deafening, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. 

He's shaking from nerves as his eyes flicker over the trees, trying to see if he can point out Minseok. "Minseok!" He calls for a third time, pausing in his tracks when hearing a faint voice call back. "Minseok? Minseok, where are you? Are you trapped? Are you hurt? I'm coming to get you!" After a few more steps, he can see the outline of something on the ground, adrenaline rushing through Jongdae's body when he sees Minseok lying in a patch of dead grass surrounded by flames. 

There's no way Jongdae could get to him without walking through the flames, fear tugging him back as he anxiously shifts in his spot only a few feet from Minseok. He could barely see him through the flames, but he knew Minseok wasn't okay. He squeezes his eyes shut, hand gripping his shirt as he talks himself through this. It would be okay; he would be okay. Once he opens his eyes he nods his head. He could do this. "It'll be quick, it won't even hurt." He lunges forward off that lie, feeling an uncomfortable heat as he runs through the flames, dropping to the ground once he reaches Minseok. 

"Oh god." The feeling of dread is back, so strong that it's suffocating to Jongdae. He stares down at an unconscious Minseok, whose skin is pale, graying in certain areas. His fingernails were starting to turn yellow and, upon lifting Minseok's lid to inspect his eye, the iris of the eye turning red and the white around his eye turning black. "No, no, no." Pale and dirt covered fingers hook around the straps of his mask, pulling it off and placing it on Minseok, making sure that it was fastened correctly. He scoops Minseok into his arms and runs in any direction, somewhere that will get them away from this mess. 

It feels like hours of running, though it's probably only been twenty minutes. Jongdae's finally out of the woods and now on an empty street, no car to be seen. He could still see the fire from where he was, but it was no longer a threat. For now, anyway. 

His lungs are on fire, every breath he takes is painful. It feels like thousands of tiny needles stab his lungs with each breath and he has that familiar coppery taste in his mouth. This was all so, so bad. He still had some time though before it would become a problem. "Minseok," his voice breaks as he calls out his name, staring at the pale and unresponsive man lying on the pavement. "Minseok, please." He holds onto his hand, trying to come up with something, _anything_. 

He knew what was happening to Minseok. He'd seen it before. When exposed to the toxins in the air without a mask it kills a human within twenty-four hours. Their skin grows pale and grays in the areas where the cells begin to die. The fingernails turn a pale yellow- resembling the nails of a chain smoker. And the eyes...the eyes change color. The iris becomes a crimson red while the surrounding white turns black. By the time the eyes change color, it's usually too late for anything to be done. No amount of masks or medicine can stop it; the body is in the process of destroying itself. 

Minseok said androids couldn't get sick, that they could walk around without masks, but yet... Jongdae hunches over, burying his face in his hands as he lets out a loud sob. He didn't know what to do. He thought Minseok would be okay without a mask. He thought he'd be okay with the air as he couldn't breathe. Did Minseok know the air would damage him? If he did, why didn't he request for a mask back at Lay's hideout? Why wouldn't he say anything? Is it possible his system didn't know? It explains the fact that Minseok was starting to zone out and stumble over his words only hours ago ~~\--~~ he was getting sick. Still, the symptoms were coming on so quickly for him. He was pale earlier that day, but his nails and eyes were of normal color. 

Was his mask on tight enough? He leans back over Minseok, gently pressing down to make sure he wasn't somehow getting anymore toxins in. He jumps when Minseok's eye suddenly open, though he lets out the largest sigh of relief. That is until they make eye contact, and Jongdae can see both eyes and their unnatural colors. He opens his mouth, though he's at a loss of words. He can only gaze down at the other before he shakes his head. "Minseok, are you awake? Are you alright? Can you hear me?" He doesn't respond, but he can see his eyes looking around. A good sign. He glances behind him when hearing a tree fall in the distance, noticing that the fire was coming closer to the road. It would only be a matter of time before it reached them again. "We need to leave, Minseok." He looks down when Minseok's hand lifts up, his fingers gently caressing the skin of Jongdae's face, touching the skin where the mask once was. He can tell he has questions. "I can't ~~\--~~ " He cuts himself short when seeing Minseok lose consciousness again. 

Jongdae would get them through this. 

\---

i'M SORRY


	10. Blue skies

Jongdae felt like he's been walking for days though he knows it's only been a few hours. He's carrying Minseok on his back, his arms hooked under his legs with his hands behind his knees. Minseok was heavy but after a while of walking the weight was easier to ignore. He was walking alongside the empty streets, feet sinking in the thick mud underneath them, leaving imprints for the rest of the world to see. The fire was long behind them but Jongdae swears he can still hear it when the rain dies down. 

Speaking of rain, he's drenched. He's beyond soaked and he's pretty sure he's got some kind of cold now. The storm slowed down to only a drizzle of rain. There was no longer any wind, thunder, or lightening. He shifts Minseok in his arms, his body begging for him to take a break. Humans have twenty-four hours in the air without any kind of protection before dying from the chemical exposure. It had already been maybe three hours. Three hours of carrying Minseok on his back and walking in the now acid rain with no mask. It wasn't looking too good for him. The symptoms are irreversible at the ten hour mark and after that it's a slow and painful death until the twenty-four hour mark is reached. Once Minseok wakes up maybe they could share the mask every five to ten minutes until they arrive at Busan. 

They had just crossed into Miryang only forty minutes ago. Jongdae was impressed that he managed to reach Daegu with Minseok passed out, let alone travel through Daegu and into Miryang without the help from him. "God," Jongdae groans out when he feels a deep ache in his back, "can't you just wake up already? I know you're not dead." Well, that's not true. He didn't know how to figure out if an android was still alive or not. Kind of difficult when there's no pulse for him to check, but something in him keeps nagging at him that Minseok isn't dead. He was still with him ~~\--~~ his body just needed more time to recover after his system practically failed. It made sense to Jongdae. Or at least that's what he's been telling himself the last three hours. 

The rain starts to come down a little harder, though it's still nowhere near as intense as it was in the woods. His skin is cold and irritable, wet fabric rubbing up against his skin and making him all sorts of uncomfortable. His vision was beginning to blur and he's not sure if it's due to the air or from how exhausted he was. He looks around for a spot to stop at, sighing in relief when seeing a somewhat damp spot under a tree that had a considerable amount of leaves despite it being the middle of winter. 

He places Minseok down at the base of the tree, making sure he was sitting up in a comfortable position before lying down in the grass. He stares up at the sky with a blank expression, allowing the rain to fall onto his face and slide down his cheeks. He glances over at Minseok, feeling his heart tug in his chest when seeing he was still unconscious before he looks back to the sky. What would he do if Minseok were actually dead? What if he had been lugging around a corpse with him all this time? 

"What am I going to do without you?" He knows the question will go unheard. He stares at the dark clouds that roll across the sky, squinting his eyes to see if he could spot any stars beneath the heavy clouds and green fog. There were none. 

He's surrounded by silence, nothing but the sound of his own breathing to keep him company. Everything felt...normal. The air smelled normal, his body for the most part was acting normal, but he knew that was an illusion he could only grasp onto for so long. It was amazing to him that the air could feel and smell so normal, yet to know that it was actively destroying his body...it was just strange, that's the only way he could put it. Maybe it's best this way. Maybe he should stay like this, ditch the Busan idea all together. Yeah he was close but...

Was it even worth it anymore? Minseok was dead and he'd end up dying in the next twenty-four hours anyway.  At least this way Jongdae wouldn't work his body to the breaking point. He could drift to sleep under a tree next to Minseok and pass that way. He was so exhausted he felt he could sleep for the next twenty-four hours anyway. Maybe one of those mutated animals that Minseok was talking about would eat him. 

He just wishes things would have played out differently. He wishes that Minseok and him made it to Busan, that they could experience that new life together. He'd make Minseok the biggest mug of hot chocolate with only the nicest marshmallows. But life doesn't work that way. He's unfortunately learned that the hard way. 

He lets his eyelids grow heavy, stretching out in the cold and wet grass as he tries his best to get comfortable. It's not working though, no matter what he tries to think of it just isn't a substitute for a bed. He pushes himself to sit back up, glancing back at Minseok whose head is drooping down. He moves so that he's sitting next to the other, resting his head on his shoulder as his eyes become teary once again. Crying was becoming too much of a hobby of his. 

And it was like that that Jongdae drifted off to sleep.

☽ ☽ ☽

"Jongdae? Jongdae, wake up!" Jongdae's eyes fly open as he's shaken awake, two discolored eyes staring at him filled to the brim with concern. "What do you think you're doing? Are you insane?" Jongdae's vision slowly comes back to him, and with that comes the image of Minseok staring straight at him, a hand on one of his cheeks as he looks him over. Anger is on his face.

"Your mask!" His voice breaks as he holds up the soaked mask, eyes wide as he tries to stress something. Jongdae wasn't really sure what was happening anymore. He must be having a great dream. "Why would you take off your mask? Are you trying to kill yourself?" It's when he hears the pain in Minseok's voice that he realizes this isn't a dream. It's very much real. 

"Minseok?"

"You're killing yourself!" He's never seen Minseok get so choked up, let alone get choked up at all. He was certain that if androids could cry, Minseok would be doing just that right now. "We can still fix this." His shaky hands fumble as he tries to put the mask back on Jongdae's face, though he only pushes it away. 

"You told me you couldn't get sick." Minseok looks at him as if he's grown three heads. "But you're dying right in front of me. You need the mask more than me. I don't," his voices catches on itself, "I don't even know how long you have left. People die after their eyes change color." 

"What are you talking about, Jongdae?" Minseok's patience is wearing thin, especially when Jongdae rejects the mask for a second time. "I'm fine! I feel fine! Just put on the fucking mask!" Minseok shouts angrily. Jongdae eyes him cautiously before letting Minseok slip the mask over his nose and mouth. 

"How can you feel fine? You look like every human does after they've been exposed to the air for twenty-four hours. Your ~~\--~~ " He stops himself when seeing the absolute confusion on his face. Minseok doesn't know. He comes to a pause when debating if he should inform Minseok about his current condition. Would telling him make his health worse? Or would not telling him make it worse? In the end, he decides he's better off telling him. "Minseok, your eyes are black and red, your skin is graying, and your nails are yellow. You look like every human does after being exposed to the air for too long. Whether or not you breathe, and whether or not your system is aware, this is killing you like it kills humans. It's still seeping into your system."

Minseok stares at him in bewilderment. He could tell Minseok was trying to believe him, but what could he do? Androids were set to believe their systems no matter what, and if his system is telling him that he's fine, then why would he believe a human saying otherwise? "I know that it's a lot to take in...but please, you need to believe me. Why else was your system failing back there? Why else have you been growing fatigued, getting dizzy, zoning out? Your body is trying to tell you something."

"Then I should be dead by now. Humans die after their eyes change color. You die within twenty-four hours, but within ten you're incurable. At the twenty hour mark your eyes start to change color. I should already be dead."

"I know that and I don't know why, but you're not." 

"Maybe it takes longer to shut down an android." Minseok raises an eyebrow in thought. "I've never heard of an android dying from the toxins before, so I don't have anything to compare this to or base off. I don't feel like my body's going to shut down at any moment." He's trying to make this make sense, but his system is coming up with no logical answer for this. His system still says he's fine. What's he to do if he can't even trust his own system? 

"Still, I think our best bet would be to share the mask every fifteen to twenty minutes until we make it to Busan. This will keep you going longer and maybe by the time we reach Busan someone can actually help you since it hasn't killed you yet. This is a good sign, Minseok." There's a bright and wide smile on Jongdae's lips as he looks at Minseok. 

"I'm not comfortable with you going twenty minutes without a mask on." Jongdae says sternly. "I'm not going to contribute to your death."

"I don't know if you realized," Jongdae leans forward with narrow eyes, he was going to win this fight, "but if you don't wear this then you'll die before we even step foot in Busan. And before you tell me that you don't care, understand that that will leave me out here alone. Do you think I can last by myself? I _need_ you, Minseok, so please, do not leave me." He cannot stress those words enough. "I can say it all day if you don't believe me. I need you by my side and I'll be relentless until you agree to switch masks with me every twenty minutes. We're in this together, you and I," He presses a shaky finger to Minseok's chest, "so just save yourself the trouble and agree to wear the mask. I can argue with you all day until we're both sitting here dead. You think I won't?"

"I know you will." Minseok sighs as he runs a hand through his wet hair. He knew the man well enough at this point to know if he was bluffing or not. He was definitely not bluffing. "Let me see your bag." He gestures to the damp bag that's leaning into Jongdae's side. He glances down at it before slowly handing it over to Minseok. The android unzips it, rummaging around inside until he finds what he was looking for. He pulls out a small first aid kit, placing it down on the grass in the space between them. It was times like these where Minseok was glad he told Jongdae to grab the first aid kit from the train. "Alright, now sit up and lean forward." He mumbles while popping the lid open. "I'm going to dress your wounds so they don't get infected." 

Jongdae reddens but leans forward anyway, staring down at his hands that lay idly in his lap. "How did you get this gash?" Minseok asks while resting his hand under his chin to keep his head tilted, a thumb on one side of his chin and his index finger on the other. "You didn't have this before I fell unconscious." He pauses, a look of uncertainty on his face before he continues, "Did I do this to you?"

Jongdae's quick to shake his head no. "No, no of course not. You never, you'd never ~~\--~~ "

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for asking." His voice is soft and his thumb rubs circles into Jongdae's skin to calm him down. He looks through the container, pulling out some bandage and cream. "Too bad I don't have any alcohol to disinfect it. Do you have any water in your bag?" Jongdae nods his head slowly, pulling out the water bottle and handing it to Minseok. 

"Don't use all of it."

"Of course not. You still need something to drink. I just need a little to clean you up." He grabs a small pocket knife from the kit, cutting off a small piece of cloth from the bottom of his shirt. After pouring some water on it he brings it up to the wound on the side of Jongdae's head, dabbing it gently with the damp cloth. 

"I tripped while carrying you out of the woods. Uplifted root." He admits sheepishly. A fond smile forms on Minseok's lips as he rolls his eyes. 

"I told you to be careful. You just never listen." There's no malice behind his words though, only light and playful teasing. Once he's finished cleaning the wound he moves on to the bandaging, adding cream to the material. "Hold still," Minseok's too busy focusing on Jongdae's cut that he doesn't notice the expression on the other's face. "There. Like you're brand new." Minseok comments on his handiwork, running his fingers over the now bandaged skin, leaning forward to make sure that it was on properly. 

Jongdae, however, is burning from the close proximity. He's shyly chewing on the inside of his cheek as he glances at Minseok's bottom lip, a light and fluttery feeling in his chest. It didn't make sense to him how he always felt so safe when Minseok was around, even when they were in the most unpleasant situations. It wasn't helping the way Minseok was always so attentive, always making sure that Jongdae was his top priority. It was flattering, really. 

He feels his breath get caught in his throat when he looks up only to lock eyes with Minseok, his cheeks dusting a soft pink once again. "How are you feeling?" Minseok asks. He had plenty of reasons to move away, yet he stayed just as close as he was when applying the bandage. He didn't need to be this close. Why was he this close? 

Jongdae leans back so that he's resting against the bark of the tree and the tension seems to disappear. His head is lighter and he feels like he can breathe again. "I feel better." He speaks while watching Minseok move so that he's sitting at his side again, head resting on his shoulder. There's a comfortable silence in the air as the two just sit for a few minutes, staring at the empty road in front of them. "Do you think we'll actually make it to Busan?" Jongdae asks without elaborating on the question, though he figured he didn't need to. 

"I don't know." Minseok comments as Jongdae takes off his mask, handing it over to Minseok. "It's your turn," he mumbles softly when the other shoots him a questioning look. Minseok puts the mask on without any arguments. "Sometimes I think about what we'll do if we reach Busan. Do you think we'll ever run into Lay or Junmyeon again?" 

"Lay and Junmyeon?" Minseok shifts in his spot, trying to get more comfortable while getting used to the feeling of a mask on his face. "Maybe. It's not impossible. Maybe one day they'll want to move with refugees to Busan once they think it's safe enough, or once they've had enough of Banpo. I can't imagine them staying much longer." Jongdae looks down at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Why not?" It was hidden and out of the way, so far back in an alleyway that many people wouldn't even find them unless they were specifically sent. They had shelter, food, water, they were protected from the government and anyone who may harm them, Loyalists or not. Why would they risk losing that all just to travel to Busan? It was already like a mini Busan in Seoul. 

Minseok stays silent for awhile as he thinks over his words. "Well," he starts, "Lay wants to keep Junmyeon safe. Even if they have supplies and shelter in Banpo, they still aren't safe. They could get raided at any moment, any time. In Busan they're not seen as illegal or fugitives. They're seen as regular citizens. I know it seems crazy to give up a safe home around you, but if you had the chance to give the person you care about the world, even if you had to risk everything, would you?" Jongdae feels his breath hitch as he glances down at Minseok, immediately looking away when they make eye contact. "For me, I think the answer is obvious. You want to protect the thing you cherish most, and to Lay that's Junmyeon." 

"I guess that makes sense." He whispers as he pulls at his fingers anxiously. "Maybe I relate to that." Jongdae speaks to himself out loud. His eyes rake over the decaying trees across the street, no sign of a fire. It must have gone out a while ago. He's unaware of Minseok gazing up at him, completely in his own world. "I would do that for you too." 

Minseok pulls away and sits up so he can get a better look at Jongdae. "What do you mean?" Minseok's unsure of what he's trying to say; his failing system can only deal with so many emotions at once, and this? This was something he'd struggle with understanding on a good day. 

Jongdae snaps out of his zoned out state, a dark red sweeping across his cheeks. "Uh, well, you see ~~\--~~ " He pulls at his shirt collar, swallowing a lump in the back of his throat. "You're hearing things," he quickly comes up with, "is that mask on tight enough? I think some chemicals are seeping in, making you delusional, you know." He presses on Minseok's mask in an attempt to sell his story, Minseok making an amused face as he pulls back. "What?" Jongdae asks when noticing his face. "Why are you making that face? Stop it. Minseok, stop it." His face is only getting redder with each passing second. 

Minseok doesn't understand what's happening, but what he does understand is the way that he feels when he's around Jongdae. He feels safe, secure, looked after. He doesn't feel like a metal monster that the media has tried to paint him out to be. He feels complete, whole. He almost feels...human. "I would do the same thing for you too." He says with a smile on his face, gazing appreciatively at Jongdae. "I mean, we kind of already are, aren't we?" He asks in a cheeky tone as he slips his mask off, handing it back to Jongdae. 

"It hasn't been ten minutes yet. Put it back on." He frowns when Minseok keeps it in his hands and pointed in Jongdae's direction. "We already talked about this. It doesn't matter that you're not human, you're still at risk of the chemicals in the air just as a human is. Put it back on ~~\--~~ " A soft and chapped pair of lips on top of his cut him off. Jongdae tenses under the touch, though when his mind slowly pieces everything together the tension falls from him. His hands travel up until they cup Minseok's cheeks, pulling their bodies closer together as he moves into the kiss. Minseok's lips don't taste like much of anything yet he likes the way his lips feel on his. He likes the way Minseok keeps one hand on his hip and the other on the back of his neck. He likes how he's not too gentle with the kiss but not too rough either. He likes the way he feels underneath Minseok's hands, the way he takes his bottom lip in between his teeth. He likes the way Minseok smells, the way he laughs, the way he scrunches his nose when hearing something funny. He just likes Minseok. 

Jongdae's the one who pulls away first, in desperate need of air. "Unlike you I actually need to breathe." He comments cheekily before reality of the situation dawns on him, turning him into a blushing and stuttering mess. "Uh, what was that? Why was that, why did you...?" It's as if he's too afraid to continue the question, so he lets his words die off the tip of his tongue. 

"I felt like it was necessary." Is Minseok's only answer and Jongdae's almost mad at himself for how shy he was feeling. Minseok doesn't give Jongdae another second to sit around, slipping his mask back on and forcing himself to shakily stand up. "Now, do you want to make it to Busan or not?" 

\---

A/N: uwu


End file.
